
Class JEjSAjL 
Bnnk • CM 4 
Copyright N''. 

COPYKIGHT DEPOSrr. 



The Mississippi River 

And Its Wonderful Valley 



Twenty-seven Hundred and Seventy-five 
Miles from Source to Sea 



By 

Julius Chambers 

Fellow of the Royal Geographical Society 
Member of the National Geographic Society 



With 80 Illustrations and Maps 



G. P. Putnam's Sons 

New York and London 
TLbc IRnicfterbocKer press 

1910 



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Copyright, igio 

BY 

JULIUS CHAMBERS 



Ube ■ftniclietbocfter |>re80, "Hew IBotft 



ICI,A27H2.-4 



TO MY WIFE 
MARGARET 



CONTENTS 
Foreword 

CHAPTER 

I. The Era of Fable .... 
II. Dawn op the Era of Credibility 

III. The French Explorations 

1. — Jacques Cartier 
2. — Groseilliers and Radisson 
3. — Allouez Finds a Name . 
4.— Wonderful La Salle! 
5. — Joliet and Marquette . 
6. — La Salle Tries Again . 
7. — Louis Hennepin 
8.— La Salle's Last Visit . 
9. — St. Cosme's Voyage 
10. — Iberville Banishes All Mysteries 
11. — Le Seuer and Blue Mud 
12. — Philology of "■ Mississippi " . 

IV. Jonathan Carver to William Morrison 
V. The Louisiana Purchase . 

VI. Lewis and Clark .... 



PAGE 

ix 

3 
12 
17 

18 
21 
43 
47 
50 
56 
66 
68 
71 
74 
76 
79 
81 
85 
93 



VI 



Contents 



CHAPTER 

VII. 

VIII. 

IX. 

X. 



XI. 
XII. 



XIII. 
XIV. 



Zebulon M. Pike to Giacomo C. Beltrami 
The Schoolcraft Expedition . 
The Jean N. Nicollet Expedition 
Elk Lake to South-west Pass . 

1. — At White Earth Mission 

2.— At Spirit Island . 

3. — The Mississippi! 

4. — Itasca .... 

5. — A New Lake . 

6.— Nicollet's Creek 

7. — Down the Young Mississippi 

8. — Pemidji, Cass, and Winnebagoshish 

9. — Pokegama to St. Anthony 
10. — Fort Snelling to Saint Louis 
11, — By Steamboat to New Orleans . 
12.— To the Sea and to New Yor 
The Itasca State Park 
Delta op the Mississippi . 

1. — The Levees 

2.— The Jetties 
Joining the Great River to the Great Lakes 
The Age of Water 



Contents 



vu 



i> 



XV. 


The Mississippi in War . 


. 


237 




1. — Struggles with the Indians . 


237 




2. — British Final Defeat at New Orleans . 


242 




3.— The Civil War .... 


252 




Forts Henry and Donelson 


255 




Shiloh 




258 




New Orleans . 




. 262 




VicJcstiirg 




. 269 


XVI. 


" The Mississippi Bubble " 




. 277 


XVII. 


Great Cities op the Valley 




. 285 




Saint Paul-Minneapolis 




. 286 




Saint Louis . 




. 290 




Memphis 




. 294 




New Orleans 




. 297 


To THE 


River: L'Envoi .... 




304 


Index 






305 



LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS 

PAGE 

The Mississippi River Immediately below Itasca Lake 

Frontispiece *^ 

The Itasca Watershed 8 - 

Surveyed and drawn by J. V. Brower, 1892-1903. 

A Page of the Radisson Manuscript . . . . 24 
Photographed at Bodleian Library, Oxford, England, 

under direction of Hon. W. E. Lee. 
(Courtesy of J. V. Brower.) 

Father Hennepin's Discovery op St. Anthony Fall . 68 

Painted by Douglas Volk in the State Capitol. 
(Copyright, 1905, by Douglas Volk.) 

Minnehaha Fall 80 • 

(Copyright, 1908, by T. W. Ingersoll.) 

Recent View at Southeastern Extremity op Itasca, 
Showing the Point across the Lake at which 
Schoolcrapt Reached It, in 1832 .... 110 

Itasca Lake, Looking South prom Bluff at Northern 

End 116 

Nicollet's Creek, beyond Itasca. " The Cradled Her- 
cules " 120 

(Courtesy of J. V. Brower.) 

The Mouth op Nicollet's Creek, where it Enters 

Itasca 124 ^ 

(Taken since the building of a dam at the outlet of 
the lake.) 

The Outlet op Nicollet's Middle Lake . . . 126 ■^ 



X Illustrations 

PAGB 

The Itasca Lake Region, as Surveyed by Hopewell 

Clarke, October, 188G 128 

The Sources op the Mississippi 130^ 

First Official Survey Map (1875). By Edwin S. Hall. 

The City op Duluth in 1872 . . . . , . 132 ^ 

Saint Paul, Looking Southwest 132 

From a photograph taken in 1872. 

A Typical Chippewa 136 - 

The Mississippi River — Thirty Miles below Itasca 

Lake . 112 j 

Minnesota Historical Society Collection. 

A Sample op Cedar Forest, in the Itasca Country . 142 
Minnesota Historical Society Collection. 

The Outlet op Itasca Lake, 1901 144 - 

Minnesota Historical Society Collection. 

The Mouth op Boutwell Creek, West Shore of Itasca 

Lake 144 

Minnesota Historical Society Collection, 

The East Arm op Itasca Lake 146 - 

(Looking north from the Southern End.) 

The Shore op Itasca Lake, East Arm, near Nicollet's 

Portage 148 

Chambers Creek, Connecting Itasca with Elk Lake. 

(Elk Lake in the Distance) 150 

(Copyright, 1909, by H. D. Ayer.) 

Elk Lake, Looking South prom Morrison Hill . . 152 

Sketch Map op the Land between Lake Itasca and 

Elk Lakes 154 



Illustrations 



XI 



A Minnesota Forest 

Minnesota Historical Society Collection. 

Map of the Upper Drainage Basin of the Mississippi 
River 

The Winnebagoshish Reservoir Dam , . . . 
Minnesota Historical Society Collection. 



PoKEGAMA Fall 

Photograph by C. H. Dickinson. 

The Second Government Dam on the Mississippi, 
BELOW Grand Rapids . . . . 



St. Anthony Fall 

From a photograph taken in 1872. 

A View of Fort Snelling, Showing the Round House 

AND the Original Stockade 

Photographed in 1872. 

Roman Catholic " Basilica of St. Paul," Built by 
Father Gaultier in 1841, after which the City 

Was Named 

Painted by H. W. Wack, after a drawing by R. O 
Sweeney of Saint Paul, 1852. 



View from Barn Bluff .... 
View from Red Wing, Looking South . 
The Author's " Baden Powell " Canoe . 
The Maiden Rock, Lake Pepin . 

Lake Pepin, from Top of Maiden Rock 

Photograph by E. J. Hall, Oak Park, 111. 

Lake Pepin, Looking North from Point No Point 



PAGE 

156 



158 
1G4 

166 

168 
170 

170 



172 

174 
174 
176 
176 

178 

180 



xii Illustrations 



PAGE 



Great Spirit Bluff, near Alma, Wisconsin . . . 182 
Photograph by E. J. Hall, Oak Park, 111. 

Fountain City 184 

Photograph by E. J. Hall, Oak Park, 111. 

The City of Winona, Minnesota 186 

Photograph by E. J. Hall, Oak Park, 111. 

" The Sugar Loaf," near Winona 188 

Trempealeau 188 

Minnehaha's Grave, near De Soto .... 190 
Photograph by E. J. Hall, Oak Park, 111, 

The City of Dubuque, Iowa 192 

Photograph by E. J. Hall, Oak Park, 111. 

A View of Nauvoo, Illinois, from a Photograph Taken 

FROM Bluff Park, Showing Government Canal . 194 
(Copyright by Goulty, Nauvoo, 111.) 

A Cypress Swamp on the Mississippi, near New 

Orleans 196 

Old Absinthe House, New Orleans .... 198 

The Old State House at Baton Rouge, Burned during 

the Civil War 198 

The House Built for the Emperor Napoleon . . 200 

The Itasca State Park 202 

(Map supplied by the Minnesota Historical Society.) 

Itasca State Lodge 206 

Birdseye View of Itasca Basin 206 

Minnesota Historical Society Collection. 



Illustrations xili 

PAGE 

The Mississippi at the Head of the Passes . . , 218 

The Mouth op South Pass, Showing Eads Jetties . 220 

Jetties at the Southwest Pass of the Mississippi 

River 222 

Cotton Staves and Steamboats at the Levee, New 

Orleans . . 226 

(Courtesy of M. B. Trezevant.) 

Outline Map of the United States, Showing the Mis- 
sissippi AND ITS Watershed 232 

Keokuk 236 

From a daguerreotype, 1847. 

Battle Hollow, the Scene of Black Hawk's Defeat 238 
Photograph by E. J. Hall, Oak Park, 111. 

Nah-se-us-kuk (The Whirling Thunder) . . . 240 
From Catlin. 

Muk-a-tah-mish-o-kah-kack (The Black Hawk) . 240 
From Catlin. 

Point-a-la-Hache 264 

The "Crescent" at New Orleans (Mississippi 100 

Feet Deep) 266 

(Courtesy of M. B. Trezevant.) 

Ursuline Convent, below New Orleans. (Showing 

High Wharf, Outside Levee) 268 

General Pemberton's Headquarters, Vicksburg . . 274 

St. Anthony Fall, 1910 284 

The City of Minneapolis, from the Eastern Bank . 286 



xiv Illustrations 

PACK 

Fort Snelling, 1908 288 

(Copyright, 1908, by T. W. Ingersoll.) 

Saint Paul, from Mississippi Bridge .... 290 
(Copyright, 1908, by T. W. Ingersoll.) 

The Minnesota State Capitol, Saint Paul . . . 292 
(Copyright, 1909, by T. W. Ingersoll.) 

Saint Louis from the River during the Visit of 

President Taft 294 

The City of Memphis 296 

From a water-color painting by F. T. Anderson. 

L'Union Francaise, New Orleans 298 

Moss-Covered Oak, Audubon Park, New Orleans . 298 

A Typical Corner 300 

Cafe des Artists 300 

The Cathedral of St. Louis 302 

The Monk's Court (Cathedral on the Right) . . 302 

South Pass, Rear Range Lighthouse .... 304 

The Tomb of Dominique You, the Pirate Hero of 

Chalmette 304 



) 



FOREWORD 

THE Mississippi was named " The Father of Run- 
ning Waters" by natives dwelHng amid the 
forests of its vast valley who knew not of other 
great rivers upon earth. Those sponsors were not far 
wrong. In length, it is exceeded only by the Nile; in 
volume, by the Amazon. 

Geographically, it divides, almost equally, the broad 
territory of the United States of America. It is the 
proudest, most valued natural possession of the Ameri- 
can people: it is revered next to American liberty! 
Its banks are scenes of traditional and authenticated 
romance. Its source has been a dreamland for poets; 
its delta a haven of buccaneers and a rallying ground 
for worthier heroes. 

In American histoiy, it maintains leadership over 
all other rivers, although many of them are nearer to 
European discovery and settlement. In finance, its 
good name was tarnished by Spanish and French 
schemers: but, self-reliant by nature, the majestic 
river redeemed itself as a highway for the internal de- 
velopment of a Republic of free men. Its commerce 
has builded a score of populous cities, has made hund- 
reds of millionaires, and has suggested vast railway 
systems that, for a score of years, took the burden of 
traffic from its bosom. But the development of the 
country has exceeded the capacity of man to build rail- 
ways and to equip them. Throughout the Mississippi 



y 



xvi Foreword 

valley confessed congestion exists. Deep waterways 
are planned that will re-establish the majesty of The 
River and its tributaries. The Mississippi returns to 
its own! 

In religion, the earliest missionaries of the Holy 
Faith in North America followed its watery way. 

In war, the Mississippi always has had a full share, 
■ — savage against savage, white against red, and white 
against white ! As an epilogue to the final conflict with 
Great Britain, a battle was fought near its mouth, weeks 
after the signing of the Treaty of Ghent, that guaran- 
teed title to the mammoth Louisiana Purchase. Early 
in the Civil War, this river became the western " dead- 
line " for revolt against Federal authority. From Saint 
Louis and from the Gulf of Mexico, wedges of assault 
were driven southward and northward into the vitals 
of the Confederacy. Hereafter, it is a bond that must 
always bind together the faggot of States. 

Such a theme is worthy of a wondersmith in words. 
< It deserves the sacrifice of a lifetime's patience and 
research. The writer had hoped that a worthier hand 
would give to the task a career and a fortune. His 
only reason for undertaking this work, amidst the de- 
mands of an exacting profession, is that since he tra- 
versed the Mississippi's uttermost length, that river has 
been to him an enthusiasm. Dwellers along its banks 
have become his friends and associates ; mere towns when 
first known to him have grown into prosperous cities. 

During these lengthening years, the mighty liver's 
irresistible flood has pursued its ceaseless journey to 
the sea, indifferent to the appreciation of man. 

Julius Chambers. 

Lotos Club, New York City, 1910. 



The Mississippi 



CHAPTER I 

The Era of Fable 

HISTORY begins with an interrogation mark. 
An Age of Fable has always preceded the 
Age of Fact. The mystery regarding the first 
Spaniard who saw the mouth of the Mississippi River 
never can be cleared, unless credible records be un- 
earthed in the Royal Library at Madrid that will ex- 
plain the sources of information drawn upon for " The 
Admiral's Map," with which the name of Christopher 
Columbus is associated. This " Admiral's Map " is 
the earliest known drawing upon which are set down 
the partly enclosed waters to-day described as the Gulf 
of Mexico, and the three-pronged delta of a mighty 
river entering that Gulf from the northward. This 
map, so intimately identified with Columbus, receives 
its chief importance, despite many inaccuracies of de- 
tail, from the fact that the three-mouthed delta is 
located notably near the point at which the Mississippi 
delivers its flood of waters to the sea. Corroborative 
evidence of the accuracy of the original discoverer, who- 
ever he may have been, exists in the indisputable fact 
that no other river's embrochure along the entire Gulf 
coast presents similar peculiarities. The map is veri- 
table, — one of the geographical treasures of this world; 
— but it was not engraved until 1507, or actually pub- 
lished until 1513, when it appeared as an illustration 



4 The Mississippi 

in a Spanish translation of the " Almagest " of Claudius 
Ptolemaeus, an Alexandrian astronomer-geographer of 
the early part of the second century a.d. The second 
book of the remarkable work of Ptolemaeus deals with 
problems connected with determination of the obliquitj^ 
of the sphere. Not only did this Egyptian believe 
that the planets and stars revolved around the earth, 
but he attempted a calculation of the circumference 
of this globe! A study of this work, many years pre- 
viously, had warranted Columbus in assummg that the 
distance from the west coast of Europe to the east 
coast of Asia was only two thirds of the actual circum- 
ference of the earth. Jebb is authority for the state- 
ment that the entire theory of Columbus, wliich led 
to the discovery of America, was due to the writings 
and calculations of this Egyptian scientist. Such is 
the debt of America to Egypt that never has been 
honoured. 

An examination of this sketch chart — for it cannot 
claim to be more — discloses near the western extremity 
of the large gulf that stretches westward from the 
Florida peninsula an unmistakable delta, extending far 
into the sea and having three distinct mouths, through 
which a river of unusual volume discharges its waters. 
The location and shape of Mobile Bay, with its two 
rivers, are also accurately placed. Whether the chart 
was drawn from hearsay, or was the fruit of Colum- 
bus's actual vision, during his fourth and last voyage, 
cannot be positively decided. But the sources of 
Columbus's information are not so obscure as might 
be supposed. On his second voyage, he coasted the 
south side of Cuba, assumed by him to be a peninsula 
of Asia, and discovered Jamaica. That was in the 



The Era of Fable 5 

summer of 1494. On his third voyage, he kept farther 
south and, on July 31, 1498, went ashore at Trinidad, 
following up this discovery by landing upon the con- 
tinent of South America. The Cabots had already 
visited North America. On his way home, Columbus 
reached Santo Domingo, where he was seized and sent 
to Spain in chains. 

The importance of the fourth voyage of Columbus, 
as associated with the famous " Admiral's Map," can- 
not be overestimated. Leaving Spain in March, 1502, 
he called at Santo Domingo only long enough to 
reprovision and sailed thence to Central America, dis- 
covering Honduras on July 30th of that year. The 
most credible record of that voyage contains little de- 
finite information regarding the route by which the 
explorer reached the Central American coast. If 
he passed through the Strait of Florida and followed 
the coast line to the north and west, the " Admiral's 
Map " is readily accounted for, because he must have 
sighted the peculiar formation of alluvial soil that car- 
ries the Mississippi's flood far into the Gulf of Mexico. 
After landing at some point on the coast of Honduras, 
Columbus followed the shore line southward as far as 
Panama, and then sailed homeward by way of Jamaica. 
This is matter of record. It has been surmised that 
Columbus obtained the information upon which this 
chart was drawn from daring Spanish adventurers 
at Jamaica, — men who, at that time, had explored 
the islands of the Caribbean Sea and most of the 
coast of the vast land-and-island-enclosed gulf to the 
northward. 

Serious attempts have been made by modern savants 
to link the name of Americus Vespucius to the Missis- 



6 The Mississippi 

sippi delta; but their arguments have not been con- 
clusive. Vespucius was Columbus's evil genius: he was 
an Italian, hailing from Florence, as Columbus did 
from Genoa. He was a member of the commercial 
house at Seville that outfitted Columbus's third voyage. 
His claim that he was absent from Spain between 
May, 1497, and October, 1498, engaged in a voyage 
of discovery, is hotly contested and apparently con- 
trovened by authenticated records of his business ac- 
tivities in Seville during much of that time. Whether 
the assertions of Vespucius were true or false, he stole 
much of Columbus's glory, and, through the aid of 
German geographical publishers, who first suggested 
that the continent be named after " its discoverer," he 
achieved the immortality his name enjoj'^s. Toward 
the close of the nineteenth century, he found an able 
defender in Count F. A. de Varnhagen, one time 
Ambassador of Brazil to Portugal, who made many 
original researches at Seville into the career of Ves- 
pucius. His final conclusions were published in 1874. 
Count de Varnhagen contends that the so-called first 
voyage of Vespucius, previously discredited, actually 
occurred in 1497-98; but that it was made to North 
America and not to any place south of Honduras. On 
his return voyage, he followed the coast northward and 
eastward as far as some " undetermined port which he 
described as ' the finest in the world,' whence he sailed 
to the Bermuda Islands and thence home." The intri- 
cate navigation suggested by this latest eulogist of Ves- 
pucius through the Bahamas or, in the Gulf Stream, up 
the Florida coast, is not creditable to his comprehension 
of navigation at the close of the fifteenth century.^ 
1 Count de Varnhagen has this to say regarding " The Admiral's 



The Era of Fable 7 

The status of the next claimant is even more hazy 
than that of the Florentine ship-chandler of Seville. 
Francisco de Garay, Governor of Jamaica, made a 
report to the Crown (published at Burgos, 1521), 
announcing the discovery of Yucatan and expressing 
a determination " to fit out, at his own expense, four 
ships, with good pilots, and to give the command to 
Alonzo Alvarez de Pineda, with the object of seeking 
some gulf or strait in the mainland towards [!] Flor- 
ida." The meaning of this obscure phrasing is that 
the Governor of Jamaica believed, as did many other 
people, that a navigable strait, to be found somewhere, 
led through the continent to the sea that washed the 
shores of Asia. He hoped to find it. This report of 
Francisco de Garay bears date of 1519. The hoped- 
for channel to Cathay was not found, although Pineda 
was absent eight or nine months; but the commander 
reported that he " had entered a large bay, into which 
emptied a large river." This has been assumed to have 
been Mobile Bay. He declared the mainland to be 
thickly inhabited, adding that, after ascending the river 
sixteen miles, he had " discovered forty villages of na- 
tives." These he located in the Province of Amichel, 
" a good land, peaceful, healthy, and provided with 
abundance of fruits." Nothing is said about any ob- 
stacles to navigation. In another part of the report, 
Pineda describes the careening of his vessels " upon a 
sandy beach, to clean their hulls," but whether this oc- 
curred at Mobile Bay or elsewhere is not made clear. 
Recent researches conducted by Mr. Clarence B. Moore 

Map " : " It was compiled from much earlier ones, the information 
derived from various sources. * The River of Palms/ shown on that 
map, was intended to represent the Mississippi." 



8 The Mississippi 

appear to prove conclusively that Pineda visited Mobile 
Bay, which has two rivers, instead of one, flowing into 
it. The shores of this land-locked harbour contain many 
evidences of early Indian villages. In fact, no other 
port of entry on the coast of the Gulf of Mexico 
answers to the condition set down by Pineda. This 
Spanish commander may have passed the mouth of the 
Mississippi but the claim that he sailed up that river 
two hundred miles, or to the present site of Baton 
Rouge, is so discredited as to be dismissed. If he ever 
saw the Mississippi, he reached it through Lakes Pont- 
chartrain and Maurepas. In that event, Mr. Moore's 
theories go by the board. 

The chief historical importance of this report of 
Francisco de Garay centres in the statement that 
Pineda " encountered Hernan Cortes, who had already 
occupied Vera Cruz." Pineda's description of the na- 
tives also casts a doubt upon his credibility. He says: 
" Their stature varied in different provinces. In 
some, we saw gigantic people; in others, men of 
ordinary stature, and in still other places mere 
pigmies." 

It is highly probable that Hernan Cortes first ac- 
curately charted the Mississippi mouth, as his map gives 
it the name of " Arrestiosos " ; but the voyage of Pineda 
must be immortal because it fixed the boundary of the 
Western sea between Florida on the east and what is 
now Mexico on the west. Cortes completed the super- 
ficial exploration of Columbus by proving the non- 
existence of any channel through which vessels could 
pass to Asia. 

Francisco de Garay sent out another expedition in 
1528 with the avowed purpose of conquering and an- 







F^ -^ 



0) >-< 



J3P|0L{3De|c| 

ino-piod 



s ^ -^ ;- 




The Era of Fable 9 

nexing the provinces of the mainland extending from 
the river Palmas — which may have been the Rio 
Grande — to the Cape of Florida. This expedition 
was entrusted to Panfilo de Narvaez, to whom was 
given the title of " Governor of Florida, Rio de Palmas, 
and Espiritu Santo." This undertaking had a most 
unfortunate termination. When nearing the mouth of 
the Mississippi, they discovered the influx of fresh 
water but were blown out to sea and were forced to 
land on what they assumed to be the western coast 
of Florida. After a council had been held, the main 
body under Narvaez's command was ordered to march 
along the coast "until it reached a harbour; and the 
ships carrying the other members of the troop were 
to sail in a like direction, until they arrived at the 
harbour sought for." The land and sea forces never 
were reunited. The sufferings of the men afoot, among 
the swamps and rank vegetation of the coast, were 
terrible. The land forces reached Apalache, an Indian 
town believed to have been near the present site of 
Tallahassee. Thence they proceeded to the coast but 
nothing could be seen or heard of their ships. They 
set about building boats but as they had only one 
carpenter among them and were without tools, they 
erected a forge, making a bellows from horses' hides, 
and converted their spurs, stirrups, and other iron im- 
plements into axes, chisels, and other tools. Hair from 
the manes and tails of their slain horses was converted 
into rigging. Stones served for anchors; sails were 
made from their own shirts. Five vessels are said to 
have been completed in forty-eight days. Into each 
of these fifty men were crowded, with such provisions 
as they could obtain. They sailed on September 22, 



lo The Mississippi 

1528, following the coast westwardly " until the latter 
part of October," when they made a landing but were 
attacked by the natives and lost two of their men, — a 
fact afterwards reported by Hernando de Soto. This 
landing is supposed to have been near the present site 
of Pensacola. The expedition at once put to sea again 
and the only chronicle extant of the immediate hap- 
penings is found in Oviedo's version of a letter written 
nine years later by one of the only two survivors (the 
original text does not exist), as follows: 

And our people went two more days, at the end of which 
the boat in which the treasurer was arrived at a point made 
by the coast, behind which was a river that flowed broad and 
swollen from freshet; a little behind, the boat of the governor 
and the others anchored at some islands near by, and the 
treasurer went to them and made known the discovery of the 
river. As they found no wood with which to parch the maize 
they had been eating raw for two days, they agreed to enter 
the river, of which they took up fresh water in the sea; and 
on going near to it, the violence of the current at the entrance 
did not permit them to gain the land. While working to get 
to it the wind sprang up in the north, and by it and the 
strong current they were put out more to sea. And they 
sailed that night and the next day following up to night time, 
when they found themselves in three fathoms depth, and see- 
ing that evening many smokes on the coast, they did not dare 
to laud in the night time, and anchored. 

The "Relation" sent by Nunez Cadeza de Vaca, de- 
scribed as " the treasurer," to Emperor Charles V. the 
same year differs in some respects. Here is its text: 

We sailed that day until the middle of the afternoon, when 
my boat, which was first, discovered a point made by the 
land, and against a cape opposite passed a broad river. I 
cast anchor near a little island forming the point, to await 



The Era of Fable n 

the arrival of the other boats. The Governor did not choose 
to come up, and entered a bay near by in which were a great 
many islets. We came together there and took fresh water 
from the sea, the stream entering it in freshet. To parch 
some of the maize we brought with us, since we had eaten it 
raw for two days, we went on an island, but finding no wood, 
we agreed to go to the river beyond the point, one league 
off. By no effort could we get there, so violent was the cur- 
rent on the way, which drove us out while we contended and 
strove to gain the land. The north wind which came from 
the shore began to blow so strongly that it forced us to sea 
without our being able to overcome it. We sounded half a 
league out, and found with thirty fathoms, we could not get 
bottom; but we were unable to satisfy ourselves that the cur- 
rent was the cause of the failure. Toiling in this manner to 
fetch the land, we navigated three days, and at the end of 
this time, a little before the sun rose, we saw smoke in several 
places along the shore. Attempting to reach them, we found 
ourselves in three fathoms of water. 

It is not mere guesswork to conclude that the mouth 
of this river which De Vaca could not enter with his 
shallow boats was some other stream than the Missis- 
sippi. Exactly where he touched must be a matter of 
surmise, because it may have been any river outlet along 
the coast of what is now Texas. 

With this voyage, we close the conjectural period 
of Mississippi River discovery, taking up in the next 
chapter the real hero of the history of the mighty 
river, Hernando de Soto, Adelantado de Florida, and 
Conquistador. 



CHAPTER II 
Dawn of the Era of Credibility 



DEALING with fable or with fact, the distinction 
of original discovery of " The Father of Run- 
ning Waters " must be accorded to the Span- 
iards. They were not only first to gaze upon the 
Mississippi, but, on their return to Europe, first to 
make it known to the civilised world of their day. 
The name of the hardy adventurer who first sighted 
the three-pronged delta never will be known, but he 
was a Spaniard. 

X Baton Ttourr^^^yX^l 




Series of Lakes, supposed route of Pineda, entering 
Mississippi in 15 19 and of Moscoso leaving it in 1543 

"It is a remarkable feature in the history of the 
Mississippi," says Schoolcraft, " that it has been ' dis- 
covered ' in sections, separated by long intervals of 
time." When we remember that the river is nearly 
three thousand miles in length, almost dividing a great 
continent, nothing else was to have been expected. 



Dawn of the Era of Credibility 13 

Quest for gold brought adventurers to the mouth of 
the mighty stream, while explorations of the north- 
west were principally undertaken in the name of re- 
ligion. Some explorations were not so religious as thej^ 
claimed to be, because a thrifty spirit of commercialism 
characterised the conduct of their leaders. 

The highly coloured tales of Cabeza de Vaca in- 
spired the formation and despatch of the largest ex- 
pedition that ever set sail for the American world. A 
soldier of fortune, Hernando de Soto was born at 
OBadajos in 1500 or 1501, and when fourteen years of 
age, went to Darien with Pedrarias. He is heard of 
ten years later in Nicaragua, with Cordoba. In the 
spring of 1532, he joined Pizarro with reinforcements 
at the Gulf of Guayaquil and took a prominent part 
in the conquest of Peru. He returned to Spain, in 
1536, loaded with honours and loot. The following 
year, Charles V. appointed this daring adventurer 
Governor of Cuba and Florida, adding special instruc- 
tions to explore the latter country. If we may believe 
the Relation of a Gentleman of the Town of Elvas, 
written in Portuguese but not printed in English until 
1686, the flower of the Spanish nobility joined that 
expedition. Of the six hundred Spaniards and Portu- 
guese noblemen " in doubtlets and cassocks of silk " 
every man was intent on winning glory and gaining 
riches. The entire expedition, when it finally sailed 
from Havana, is said to have numbered nine thousand 
men, including officers, sailors, and fighting men. This 
statement is evidently erroneous because nine ships suf- 
ficed to carry the invaders. Soto's total equipment was 
probably about nine hundred and fifty men, half of 
whom were arrayed in silk or satin. The little squad- 



14 The Mississippi 

ron sailed from San Lucar in April, 1538, and after 
a year in Cuba, left Havana (May 12, 1539) for 
Tampa Bay, where a landing was made. The ships 
were sent back to Havana, with orders to return to a 
designated place upon the northern coast of the Gulf. 
The march of Soto during the next three years took 
him around the top of the Gulf, across territory that 
is now Florida, Alabama, and Mississippi. He made 
a great circuit to the northward that possibly carried 
him into Georgia, the Carolinas, and eastern Tennessee. 
That is conjectural, however; but it is known that he 
descended the Alabama River to Mobile Bay. There 
he had a fierce engagement with the natives (October, 
1540). Thence, he pushed north-westward through 
Mississippi and wintered on the Yazoo River, near to 
the greater river but unconscious of its proximity. A 
severe battle with the Indians occurred at this point. 
(This same ground was fought over by Grant and 
Sherman during the Civil War, prior to the siege of 
Vicksburg.) Soto reached the Mississippi at Chicka- 
saw Bluffs, May 8, 1541, old style, the exact locality 
of Sherman's defeat in 1863. Soto crossed the Mis- 
sissippi on May 15th, by what means is not clear, for 
the river is more than a mile wide at that point and 
the spring floods must have rendered its current very 
rapid. He explored the region west of the river as far 
north as the Missouri and south to the Red River. He 
did not find the fabulous stores of gold he had expected 
to discover. His followers were discouraged; two 
hundred and fifty of them had died of fevers or wounds 
received in battle. He returned to the Mississippi 
again, at the mouth of the Red River, on April 17, 
1542, fell ill of malarial fever, and after appointing 



Dawn of the Era of Credibility 15 

Luis de Moscoso (generally written Luys Moscoso) 
his successor, Hernando de Soto died. To maintain 
the fable of Soto's divine attributes, his body was hidden 
in a hut for several days and then buried in the dark- 
ness of night. But the natives discovered the grave 
and gathered about it. JNIoscoso became fearful the 
Indians might disinter the body; removing it from 
the grave, he sunk it, heavily weighted, in the middle 
of the great river with which the name of the Conquis- 
tador for ever will be associated. According to "A 
Gentleman of Elvas," the only chronicler who accom- 
panied the expedition and whose name never will be 
known, Soto died on May 21st. 

The will of Hernando de Soto, made in San Cris- 
tobal of the Havana, May 10, 1539, and sent back to 
Spain, was found at Seville among the papers in the 
suit of Isabel de Bobadilla, his widow, against Hernan 
Ponce de Leon, Soto's partner and a co-executor of 
the estate under the will. It is a long document, gorged 
with religion, and makes many bequests. Soto directed 
that his body be buried in the church at Xeres, near 
Badajos, — a wish that never was realised. 

After wandering about in the swamps until De- 
cember of the same year, the depleted band reached 
Minoya, above the mouth of the Arkansas, — much 
farther from the Gulf than the point at which Soto 
died.^ Here they constructed and launched seven brig- 
antines, in which, on July 2, 1543, they set out for the 
mouth of the tortuous river, thus completing their 

1 Coronado was in the country west of the Mississippi, probably in 
what is now Kansas, when Moscoso's troop was in such straits. Had 
the fact been known and could they have united, the fate of the 
combined troop might have been very different. — J. C. 



1 6 The Mississippi 

knowledge of the lower part of the broad stream to 
which Soto had given the title of " Rio Grande," or 
Great River. 

Attaining the Gulf, they coasted westward, never 
losing sight of land in their frail vessels, until they 
arrived, ragged and disheartened, at the Spanish settle- 
ment at Tampico. "They kissed the ground when 
they found themselves again among their countrymen,'* 
according to the Elvas chronicler. 

Here the record of Spanish exploration in the 
Mississippi Valley halts for two hundred years. There 
were a few private expeditions to Florida, chiefly from 
Cuba, but all were disastrous. The Spaniards had 
"discovered" the Mississippi; but they did nothing to 
utilise it. 



CHAPTER III 

The French Explorations 

WE must now mentally transport ourselves to 
Canada and to the North-west. As we have 
seen, the Spaniards made their search for the 
Mississippi from the sea; the French set out from 
the region of the Great Lakes. Professor Ogg truly 
says: "Except as a basis for subsequent territorial 
claims, its discovery by the Spaniards might as well 
never have occurred. The whole work of discovery 
had to be wrought anew nearly a century and a half 
later by the efforts of a different people." 

The fur-traders and the missionaries of New France 
accomplished a task that the Spaniards, greedy for 
gold, had abandoned in disgust. 

The Roman Church was prompt to recognise the 
importance of the discoveries of Columbus. Whether 
the Genoese had found much or little territory, Pope 
Alexander VI. undertook, as Vicegerent of the Creator 
of land and sea, to apportion it between Spain and 
Portugal. By a bull, bearing date of May 4, 1493, 
the right of discovery — which carried with it posses- 
sion — of any new lands upon the face of this earth, 
whether the planet were flat or spheroidal, was accorded 
to those two crowns. This remarkable document, dis- 
posing of all territories, known and unknown, in the 
Americas, much of Africa, the eastern part of Asia, 
and the islands of the Atlantic Ocean, fixed as a 

2 17 



i8 The Mississippi 

dividing line the meridian passing north and south 
through the Azores. A year later, the same authority, 
presumably at Portugal's insistence, moved the longi- 
tudinal demarcation far enough westward to annex to 
the crown of Portugal the eastern part of the conti- 
nent of South America. The only part of North 
America gained by Portugal was the large island of 
Newfoundland. The remainder of both continents was 
accorded to Spain! Although Portugal got the worse 
of that Papal decree, it still holds much of the terri- 
tory granted at that time, while Spain has lost eveiy 
foot of the earth's surface thus apportioned except the 
Canary Islands! 

Doubt as to the exact point at which that longitudinal 
line crossed the mainland of North America afforded 
a pretext to the French to enter this continent by the 
Gulf of St. Lawrence. Francis I. was a devout church- 
man; he respected the majesty of Sj)ain but cared little 
for the rights of Portugal. That Papal bull was there- 
fore the excuse for the voyages of Jacques Cartier. 

I JACQUES CARTIER 

The chart of Sylvanus, from the edition of Ptolemy 
of 1511, induced Cartier to sail from St. Malo, April 
20, 1534, with two vessels of sixty tons each and sixty- 
one men, for the " Square Gulf," or Gulf of St. Law- 
rence familiar to us, instead of to the semi-enclosed sea 
known at that day to lie west of the Florida peninsula. 
This statement is practically reduced to a demonstra- 
tion by Justin Winsor, in his recent elaborate volume.^ 

1 Cartier to Frontenac, by Justin Winsor, 1894. (The cartography 
of this work makes it invaluable. — J. C.) 



The French Explorations 19 

" Norman, Breton, and Basque had been frequenters 
of its shores," says Winsor, meaning the " Gulfo Quad- 
rado," and Cartier felt sure of the accuracy of their 
charts — a contention that has been seriously disputed 
regarding the " Admiral's map " of the Gulf of Mexico. 
Jacques Cartier does not belong to the Mississippi any 
more than do his successors who never reached its banks ; 
but Cartier, Roberval, Nicolet, and Champlain were 
the inspiration of the subsequent advance of sturdy 
explorers and earnest French missionaries into the New 
World. 

Before there could be a Groseilliers, a Radisson, a 
La Salle, or a Marquette, there had to be a New 
France. 

This development of an unknown land took time; 
and that fact accounts for the long interregnum be- 
tween the lapse of Spanish enthusiasm for exploration 
on the Gulf of Mexico and the westward advances of 
the French from Quebec through the Great Lakes. 
The failure of Columbus to locate a supposed strait 
leading to Cathay was admitted. The broad river that 
flowed into the " Square Gulf " promised much. If 
Cartier, in his reported voyage to the coast of Brazil 
during his buccaneer period, had encountered the wide 
mouth of the Amazon, he might have entertained the 
same hope of solving the problem that Columbus and 
his successors had abandoned. Every mile of progress 
made by his ships up the St. Lawrence to what is now 
called the Island of Orleans, near the present site of 
Quebec, must have encouraged Cartier in the belief that 
he had indeed found the way to the ocean of the 
Indies. He established winter quarters in a small 
cove near the mouth of the St. Charles River. On 



20 The Mississippi 

September 19, 1534, taking one of his vessels, he started 
up the St. Lawrence, and, on October 2d, reached the 
present site of Montreal. He named the hill, familiar 
to every visitor to the hustling Canadian city, Mont 
Royal. When Cartier climbed that mount, down 
which athletic Canadians now toboggan during four 
months of every winter, he saw only the terrors of the 
Lachine Rapids and recognised a natural barrier that 
must have ended his dream of a channel to the Indies. 

The real value of this inland voyage of Cartier is 
that the route was developed up the Ottawa, through 
Nipissing Lake to the sea of the Hurons and the Great 
Lakes. Its importance was momentous! If Canada 
ever grows sufficiently rich and enterprising, she will 
cut a canal from Lake Huron through Nipissing Lake 
to the upper Ottawa and, by a series of locks on that 
river, establish a water route that will shorten, by a 
thousand miles, the distance from Duluth and the vast 
wheat country of the Dakotas and Manitoba to the sea! 

The Frenchmen, like the natives, knew hardly any- 
thing about Lakes Ontario and Erie, because their way 
to the North-west led up the Ottawa, through Lake 
Nipissing to Georgian Bay, and left those two large 
bodies of water outside their path. 

Cartier's Bref Recite as his report to Francis I. is 
known, is one of the few veritable guide-posts of modern 
history. He returned to France twice and died within 
sound of the sea, on the Brittany coast, September 1, 
1557. But Gerard Mercator, the Flemish map-maker, 
did not recognise the debt geography owed to Cartier. 
Either he had not heard of the Frenchman's explora- 
tions or he disbelieved in him.^ 

1 The Hakluyt-Martyr map of 1587 was the first to show the 



The French Explorations 

II GROSEILLIERS AND RADISSON 



21 



The claims of these two men as original discoverers 
of Minnesota have been dis- 
puted, reasserted, and dis- 
cussed ever since the finding 
of the so-called Radisson 
manuscripts in the Bodleian 
Library, at Oxford, and 
among some records of the 
Hudson Bay Company now 
owned by the British Museum. 
The history of these precious 
manuscripts — which, in them- 
selves, appear to be fully 
authenticated — casts a shadow 
upon them that is probably 
ill deserved. They were copied 
and published only in 1885, 
by the Prince Society of Bos- 
ton, in a small quarto volume 
of three hundred and eighty- 
five pages, bearing this title: 
" Voyages of Peter Esprit 
Radisson J Being an Account 
of his Travels and Experi- 
ences among the North Ameri- 
can Indians, from 1652 to 
1654. Transcribed from ori- 
ginal Manuscripts . . . and an Introduction, by Gideon 




Atlantic, Gulf, and Pacific coast lines of North America below lati- 
tude 50° N. 



22 The Mississippi 

D. Scull, London, England. Boston: Published by the 
Prince Society, 1885." In the aforementioned " Intro- 
duction," we learn that these priceless manuscripts, if 
genuine and trustworthy, were " for some time the prop- 
erty of Samuel Pepys, diarist and Secretary of the 
Admiralty to Charles II. and James II., who probably 
received them from Sir George Carteret, Vice-Chamber- 
lain of the King and Treasurer of the Navy, for whom, no 
doubt, they were carefully copied from his rough notes 
by the author, so that they might be brought, through 
him, under the notice of Charles II. Some years 
after the death of Pepys, in 1703, his collection of 
manuscripts " (meaning Pepys's collection) " was dis- 
persed and fell into the hands of various London 
tradesmen, who bought parcels to use in their shops 
as waste-paper. The most valuable portions were re- 
claimed bj^ the celebrated collector, Richard Rawlinson." 
Here we have all that is known about the Radisson 
narratives. Although Mr. Scull, editor of the manu- 
scripts as published by the Prince Society, states in his 
introduction, " All his [Radisson's] manuscripts have 
been handed down in perfect preservation, and are 
written out in a clear and excellent handwriting, show- 
ing the writer to have been a person of good educa- 
tion," there are disconnected passages inclining one to 
fear that many sheets were lost or misplaced. Some 
of the most vital incidents in the narratives are passed 
over by mere mention or are vaguely hinted at, while 
inconsequential matters are given in elaborate detail. 
It is futile, therefore, at this late date, to discuss these 
slips and shadows of doubt. We must take the nar- 
rative as it comes to us, and allow every reader to have 
an opinion of his or her own. 



The French Explorations 23 

The writer of this volume does not intend to enter 
upon a discussion regarding the credibility of the Radis- 
son accounts of the stay of Groseilliers and himself in 
the valley of the Mississippi. That they were there 
is very fully attested by Tlie Jesuit Relations and 
Allied Documents; Travels and Explorations of the 
Jesuit Missionaries in New France, 1610 to 1791. 
This series of seventy-three volumes is probably the 
most valuable bit of Americana ever published in this 
country (Cleveland, Ohio, 1896-1901). The writer 
prefers to lean upon the best authority now living on 
the Radisson manuscripts, Warren Upham, Secretary 
of the Minnesota Historical Society, and to accept 
them as they come to the readers of the present 
day. 

Sieur des Groseilliers, as the young Jesuit layman 
helper in missionary work among the Hurons and Al- 
gonquins chose to describe himself, was born Medard 
Chouart,^ probably near Meaux, France, in 1621. Be- 
fore he was twenty, he came to Canada and for six 
years or more was a devoted servant of the Faith. 
Then he became a fur-trader. He married a daughter 
of Abraham Martin, from whom the Plains of Abra- 
ham, to the west of the citadel at Quebec, received their 
name. This wife, Helen, died in 1651 and two years 
thereafter he took for second wife a sister of Radis- 
son. This appears to have been the tie that bound 
these two intrepid adventurers together. Pierre Esprit 

1 " The name of des Groseillers, taken from a small property, was 
Medard Chouart, but he is as little known by that name as Voltaire 
was known by his real name of Arouet, he being always spoken of 
by the name of des Groseillers, changed in one aflfidavit into * Goose- 
berry,' the name literally translated into English being * gooseberry 
bushes.' " — Canadian Archives, Report for 1895, p. 22. 



24 The Mississippi 

Radisson was also a Frenchman, hailing from St. Malo, 
in Brittany. While a boy in his teens, his parents 
brought him to Three Rivers, a settlement on the north- 
ern bank of the St. Lawrence, about midway between 
Quebec and Montreal. The date of the arrival of the 
Radissons is fixed by the fact that Groseilliers mar- 
ried Marguerite Radisson shortly after their coming 
to the country (1651). Radisson had been a sailor, 
even in youth, and knew most of the ports of the 
Mediterranean. He had visited Paris, and during a 
lengthy stay in London had acquired the English lan- 
guage, — not alone a grammatical knowledge, but an 
idiomatic and colloquial acquaintance, as his written 
narratives prove. One year after his arrival in 
Canada, Radisson, while on a hunting expedition, fell 
into the hands of a band of Iroquois and was taken by 
the Indians to a point in what is now Central New 
York, on the Mohawk River. At the end of a year, 
he escaped to Fort Orange (now Albany) , came down 
the river to New Amsterdam, whence he sailed to Hol- 
land. Radisson returned to Three Rivers in the spring 
of 1654, at which point our interest in his "voyages " 
begins. Groseilliers, as the elder man, appears to have 
been accorded command, although Radisson was much 
the better type of coureur des hois. In the two expedi- 
tions, for profit rather than fame, that these two com- 
mercial adventurers made between 1654 and 1660, they 
penetrated beyond the great lakes of JNIichigan and 
Superior into what is now Minnesota territoiy. The 
claims set forth in the Radisson manuscripts to 
having descended " the great river " to the sea or of 
having travelled as far north as Hudson Bay need 
not be discussed. The first is probably a boast 









■ ^fTre^'TmO^ ^CJ-a 



" fw*t* H^ 









^X^^«^/ 



^^, 













-••V** ^»tM^/— 



lUXjJ^^ ^^—hUj a^j^nri^ f^f^tji^ 

mte>^ (t-x- «/u«vV& dm^^^xj o-M-'Xi f^ e,.Ji> /C-AT-' 'Hf'^/^SS'' "" •'^^ .^isb . .^^ ^^^.^^f- aj£ij^(j^ 

■^ 

A Pao-e of the Kadisson Manuscript. 

Photographed at Bodleian Library, Oxford, England, under Direction 

of Hon. W. E. Lee. 

(Courtesy of J. V. Brower.) 






^ 



v>,^<' rlii*^ ji-r ,»tA' a^, 



The French Explorations 25 

and the second is unimportant in connection with the 
Mississippi. 

With the generous permission of Mr. Upham, who 
has placed at my disposal the fruits of years of re- 
search and travel, I shall summarise an exhaustive 
treatise on the narratives of these " first white men in 
Minnesota " based upon a series of addresses recently 
delivered by him before the Minnesota Historical 
Society.^ 

Radisson " married upward," securing for wife the 
daughter of John Kirke, who soon after became a di- 
rector in the Hudson Bay Company. That corpora- 
tion, which received its charter from Charles II. as 
late as 1670, had been doing business in a practical 
manner for many years prior to that date. Radisson 
had joined interests with the pioneers of that company, 
and, with his brother-in-law, had gone to England to 
put up a good front for the acquisition of the charter. 
But Radisson was at heart a Frenchman and he was 
not a tractable employee of the Hudson Bay Company. 
In 1674, he kicked over the traces and transferred his 
allegiance again to France, taking with him his in- 
separable companion, and for ten years did everj^thing 
that he believed would advance the interests of his na- 
tive land. He went so far as to establish a French 
trading post near the mouth of the Nelson River and 
to turn pirate by seizing a New England ship that had 
penetrated into Hudson Bay. This high-handed act 
led to negotiations between the two nations, in which 
Groseilliers and Radisson were " turned down " by the 

1 Published in Minnesota Historical Society Collections, vol. x., 
Part II., pp. 449-594. The maps in this chapter are used by the 
courtesy of Mr. Upham and the Minnesota Historical Society. — J.C. 



26 The Mississippi 

French. They harked hack to their Enghsh friends 
and were welcomed with open arms. No doubt, 
Radisson's father-in-law had much to do with that re- 
ception and for the forgiveness of the past. In a few 
lines of the " Narratives," Radisson states his own feel- 
ings, although he does not speak for his companion. 
He writes: " In May, 1684, I passed over to England 
for good; so intent was I on engaging myself to the 
service of his INIajesty, and to the interests of the Na- 
tion, that any other consideration was never able to 
detach me from it." Groseilliers, ever a Frenchman, 
refused the overtures of the Hudson Bay Compan}'", 
and at this parting of the ways the two brothers-in-law 
separated for ever. Groseilliers drops out of history 
as does Civilis, the great Batavian, afoot upon the dis- 
connected bridge over the Wahal at the end of the Sixth 
Book of Tacitus's History. 

What these two men had previously accomplished 
in six years (1654 to 1660) cannot be overlooked by 
any historian of North American development. Our 
interest in their *' voyages " begins with the first west- 
ern expedition of the two Frenchmen, which occupies 
pages 134 to 172 in the Prince Society's publication. 
Radisson, the chronicler, overlooked the importance of 
the discovery of the Upper JNIississippi, because he en- 
titles his Narrative " The Auxoticiat Voyage into the 
Great and filthy Lake of the Hurrons, Upper Sea of 
the East, and Bay of the North." The date of start- 
ing is not set down, but it is certain that it occurred 
in the fall of 1654, because Radisson had returned from 
France in the spring of that year. They ascended the 
Ottawa River, with a small company of Hurons and 
Ottawas, by way of Nipissing to what is now known 



The French Explorations 



27 




as Georgian Bay. Stopping at all trading posts, the 
Frenchmen passed that winter in the neighbourhood of 
the Strait of Mackinac. Radisson praises the beauty 
of Lake Huron ; some of the expeditions were extended 
as far as Green Bay, 
Lake Michigan. 
Early in the spring 
of 1655, the two ad- 
venturers went to 
the southern end of 
Green Bay, as- 
cended the Fox 
River through Lake 
Winnebago, ad- 
vanced across Wis- 
consin, and entered 

the Mississippi near the site of Prairie du Chien. 
Thence the explorers ascended the Mississippi through 
Lake Pepin to Isle Pelee (or Bald Island), now 
known as Prairie Island, on the Minnesota side 
of the main channel a short distance above Red Wing. 
Their stay lasted from April or May, 1655, to June, 
1656, about fourteen months. 

Investigations made by Upham and Brower regard- 
ing the year passed by Groseilliers and Radisson on 
Prairie Island have done so much to clear up the mys- 
tery that enveloped the Jesuit " Relations " and the 
Radisson diaries that we cannot do better than quote 
the XJpham address on this point: 

On this island, which derived its names, both in French 
and English, from its being mostly a prairie, a large number 
of Hurons and Ottawas, fleeing from their enemies, the Iro- 
quois, had recently taken refuge, and had begun the cultiva- 



28 



The Mississippi 



tion of corn. Their harvest the preceding year, on newly 
worked land, was small; but much corn would be needed for 
food during the long journey thence to Quebec with beaver 
skins, which canoe voyage, requiring a month or more, Groseil- 
liers and Radisson wished to begin soon after their arrival 




at the island. They were obliged to remain till the next 
year, and Groseilliers spent the summer on Trairie Island and 
in its vicinity, one of his chief objects being to provide a large 
(supply of corn for the return journey. Meanwhile Radisson 



The French Explorations 29 

went with hunting parties, and travelled " four months . . . 
without doing anything but go from river to river." He was 
enamoured of the beauty and fertility of the country, and was 
astonished at its herds of buffaloes and antelopes, flocks of 
pelicans, and the shovel-nosed sturgeon, all of which he partic- 
ularly described. Such was the first year, 1655, of observa- 
tions and exploration by white men in Minnesota, and their 
earliest navigation of the upper part of the Mississippi River. 

During the summer of 1655, while Groseilliers was 
planting, tending, and harvesting corn for the return 
journey of himself and his attendants in the following 
3^ear, Radisson occupied four months of the season in 
hunting excursions. His account of these trips is so 
general as not to be satisfactory. Apparently, he de- 
sired to have posterity believe that he had descended 
the great river to the Gulf of Mexico. Here is a 
verbatim transcript: 

We weare 4 moneths in our voyage without doeing anything 
but goe from river to river. We mett severall sorts of people. 
We conversed with them, being long time in alliance with 
them. By the persuasion of som of them we went into the 
great river that divides itselfe in 2, where the hurrons with 
some Ottanake & the wildmen that had warrs with them had 
retired. There is not great difference in their language, as 
we weare told. This nation have warrs against those of [the] 
forked river. It is so called because it has 2 branches, the 
one towards the west, the other towards the South, which we 
believe runns towards Mexico, by the tokens they gave us. Being 
among these people, they told us the prisoners they take tells 
them that they have warrs against a nation, against men that 
build great cabbans & have great beards & had such knives 
as we had. Moreover they shewed a Decad of beads & guilded 
pearls that they have had from that people, which made us 
believe they weare Europeans. They shewed one of that na- 
tion that was taken the yeare before. We understood him 



30 The Mississippi 

not; he was much more tawny than they with whome we 
weare. His armes & leggs weare turned outside; that was 
the punishment inflicted uppon him. So they doe with them 
that they take, & kill them with clubbs & doe often eat them. 
They doe not burne their prisoners as those of the northern 
parts. 

We weare informed of that nation that live in the other 
river. These weare men of extraordinary height & biggnesse, 
that made us believe they had no communication with them. 
They live onely uppon Corne & Citrulles [pumpkins], which 
are mighty bigg. They have fish in plenty throughout the 
yeare. They have fruit as big as the heart of on Oriniak, 
which grows on vast trees which in compasse are three arnie- 
full in compasse. When they see litle men they are afraid 
& cry out, which makes many come help them. Their arrows 
are not of stones as ours are, but of fish boans & other boans 
that they worke greatly, as all other things. Their dishes are 
made of wood. I having seene them, could not but admire 
the curiosity of their worke. They have great calumetts of 
great stones, red and greene. They make a store of tobacco. 
They have a kind of drink that makes them mad for a whole 
day. This I have not seene, therefore you may believe as you 
please. 

Mr, Upliam concludes from this narrative that the 
Radisson party travelled south-eastward, through what 
is now Illinois, " going by portages from one river to 
another, until they reached the Illinois River, ' that 
divides itself in two,' so described, apparently, because 
it is formed by the junction of the Des Plaines and 
the Kankakee, each an important canoe route." De- 
scending the Illinois to the Mississippi, Radisson prob- 
ably went as far south as the junction of the big muddy 
Missouri, referred to as an important canoe route 
" toward the west." Upham concludes that neither 
Groseilliers nor Radisson was aware that the river upon 



The French Explorations 31 

which they were encamped, at Prairie Island, was the 
eastern or main branch of their " forked river." 

The great council held on Prairie Island, prior to 
the return of the Frenchmen to civilisation, must al- 
ways command a place in the early history of the 
Mississippi Valley. It bears so many earmarks of 
veritability that Radisson must be acquitted of ex- 
aggeration in this instance, if not in some others. 
Probably five hundred Indians of various tribes had 
assembled, with their flotilla of birch canoes, to accom- 
pany the two Frenchmen to Lower Canada. The 
Hurons, who had accompanied the traders the previous 
year, were afraid of their enemies, then upon the war 
paths along the route. The dangers of the return 
journey took away the courage of the Indians, and they 
began to talk about waiting until another year. But 
Radisson, as soon as the " Council of Braves " was 
assembled, harangued it. 

This incident occurred toward the latter part of 
June. Mr. Upham says: 

What a scene for a painter to depict Groseilliers and Radis- 
son pleading before eight hundred Indians! On each side, 
two miles away, rise the wooded bluffs that inclose this valley 
and its islands. In a beautiful prairie area, the motley crowd 
of savages are sitting or lying upon the ground. At the 
centre of the assemblage, these two courageous Frenchmen 
are striving to persuade their dusky auditors to set out on 
the first commercial venture connecting this region with 
civilisation. 

The eloquence of Radisson prevailed. Accom- 
panied by several hundred Hurons and other Algon- 
quins (Radisson says five hundred) , and " carrying a 



32 The Mississippi 

most welcome freight of furs," Groseilliers and Radis- 
son arrived in Montreal and Quebec in August, 1656. 

The second western expedition of Groseilliers and 
Radisson did not occur until two or three years later. 
Historians never will agree whether the two French- 
men started in 1658 or 1659, although the Radisson 
account explicitly enumerates the events of two years, 
which perforce would have marked the summer of 1658 
as the time at which the journey began, because the 
return of the party in August, 1660, is proved by sev- 
eral concurring records. Again there is a clash with 
the " Journal " of the Jesuit Fathers, which indicates 
that the party was away only one year. Upham 
charges Radisson with deliberately adding a year dur- 
ing which he asserted that he made a journey to Hud- 
son Bay. In any event, the charge does not affect the 
Groseilliers and Radisson explorations in northern Min- 
nesota. The Jesuits might not have known of the year's 
voyaging to the far North. Upham insists that records 
at Montreal, Three Rivers, and Quebec show that the 
party was absent about twelve months. That is vital, so 
far as affecting the credibility of the alleged Hudson 
Bay trip, but it does not concern the parts of the 
Radisson narrative that interest us. 

After more elaborate preparations than on the first 
journey beyond Lake Superior, the two brothers-in-law 
paddled away from Three Rivers amid the darkness of 
night, because the Governor of Quebec, Argensoh, had 
expressly refused to sanction the expedition on terms 
proposed by the explorers and had followed that re- 
fusal with a specific prohibition. The journey up the 
Ottawa River was attended by several skirmishes with 
roving bands of Iroquois. Some of the best written 



The French Explorations S3 

passages in Radisson are his descriptions of the craft 
and wariness of Indian warfare; he understood the ab- 
original nature as well as Fenimore Cooper. Twenty- 
two days of frequent danger and constant hardship 
brought the canoe flotilla into Georgian Bay, which 
Radisson describes as " a sweet sea." Following the 
east coast northward they came to the Sault Ste. 
jMarie, " overflowing from Lake Superior." Jean 
Nicolet, with seven Huron canoemen, had ascended the 
Sault just twenty-five years before (1634), and had 
cast the first European eyes upon " The Big Sea 
Water," — as Superior was knowTi to the Indian tribes 
of the region. Groseilliers and Radisson became the 
first white men to navigate its length and to enter the 
territory now known as northern Wisconsin and Min- 
nesota. Radisson's description of the landmarks along 
the south coast of Superior are accurate and prove his 
presence there. He makes first mention of the high 
sand dunes near Point au Sable, about one hundred 
miles beyond the Sault. Fifteen miles farther, south- 
westward from Point au Sable, he locates with ac- 
curacy the Grand Portal, or Arched Rock, a natural 
wonder to this day. Also, the Keweenaw peninsula, 
which projects fifty miles into the lake, and the portage, 
which saved eight days' paddling around the head- 
land, are described. Five days of canoeing beyond the 
western end of the Keweenaw portage brought the 
voyageurs to a camp of Crees, on the shore, where they 
were welcomed. A few days later, at the mouth of 
the Montreal River, some boats' crews of Ojibw^as, the 
men in which had voyaged with the party from the 
Sault, turned their boats into that stream, returning 
to their own country. The main party, however, con- 



34 The Mississippi 

tinued westward along the coast half a day's paddling 
to Chequamegon Bay, which became their base for de- 
parture inland and for their subsequent return home- 
ward. This headquarters was about the site of the 
present town of Ashland. 

A stockade was erected, to protect the party from 
sudden attacks by the natives, until a start for the 
interior could be made. Having arrived so late in the 
fall, the determination of the Frenchmen not to winter 
on the coast is inexplicable. They had heard of a 
large Indian settlement about sixty miles in the direc- 
tion of the St. Croix River, by which in the spring 
they intended to descend to the Mississippi. This 
community was on the shore of what was later called 
" Ottawa Lake." It is now identified as Lac Courte 
Oreille. The natives of the tribe had not among them 
an organising mind like that of Groseilliers at Prairie 
Island to prepare a store of corn for the bleak winter: 
the result was that the Frenchmen and their carriers 
became a further addition to the half-starving settle- 
ment before the rigours of winter began. The situation 
grew rapidly worse. Those who have doubted the ac- 
curacy of " The Famine," as portrayed in Longfellow's 
Hiawatha^ will do well to compare the poem with 
Radisson's account of the sufferings of himself and 
party that winter. According to Upham, " the narra- 
tion shows that the winter began while Groseilliers and 
Radisson were guests, as we may say, of the Huron and 
Menominee Indians, probably at Lac Courte Oreille, 
near Hayward, Wisconsin. The first snowfall, and the 
ensuing separation of the Indians into parties of two 
or three for procuring sustenance by hunting, took place, 
as we must suppose, in the later part of October or 



The French Explorations 35 

early November, 1659. Two months and a half later, 
that is, shortly after New Year's day of 1660, they came 
together at ' the small lake, the place of rendezvous ' in 
the country of the Sioux." 

Radisson's description of the reassembling and the 
famine that followed, turned into modern English, is 
highly realistic: 

We are come to the small lake, the place of rendezvous, 
where we found some people who had preceded us. We built 
huts, waiting for those that came in day by day. We re- 
mained fourteen days at this place, dismal as a churchyard; 
for a heavy snow fell, preceded by mist that caused the snow 
to stick to the rough-barked trees. The snow was so fine that 
it would not bear our weight and although we made racketts 
six feet long and a foot and a half broad we could not travel 
upon them. 

The famine grew worse daily. Beasts of the forests had 
been frightened away, hunting was unprofitable. To augment 
our misery, we received news from the Octanaks, a tribe of 
one hundred and fifty, including women and children. They 
had had a quarrel with the Hurons on the island where we 
had been some years before in the Lake of the Staring Hairs 
[Bois Blanc Island, as identified by Campbell, in Lake Huron. 
— Upham], threatening to make war upon them in the coming 
summer. Did they bring anything upon which to subsist? 
Nothing; they are worse provided than are we: not having 
any huntsmen, they are reduced to famine. O, cursed covet- 
ousness, what art thou going to do? It were far better that 
a company of rogues perish than that we be in danger of a 
fate so cruel. They kept victuals from their own poor child- 
ren, those dogs. They are the cursedest, unablest, and 
cowardliest people I have seen amongst fourscore nations! 
Every one cries with hunger; the women become barren and 
the breasts of nursing mothers dry like wood. You men must 
eat the bow-string, seeing you have not strength to use the 
bow. Children, you must die! Ye French, who call your- 



36 The Mississippi 

selves Gods of the earth, hoping to make yourselves feared; 
but you, too, shall taste of this bitterness. 

Oh ! If the music we hear could give to us hope : we need 
not for lamentable sounds nor sad spectacles. In the morn- 
ing, the husband looks upon his wife, the brother upon his 
sister, the cousin upon cousin, the uncle upon nephew found 
dead in their cabins. The living languish with cries and hide- 
ous lamentations. Good God, have mercy upon these unfortu- 
nate, innocent people ! Of us that acknowledge Thee and have 
offended, punish us ! True, we also have the executioner among 
us. Those of us that are able, seek roots which are found 
with much difficulty. The earth is frozen two and three feet 
deep and the snow lies five and six feet upon it. Our chief 
subsistence is a vine with a rind that grows upon trees like 
ivy. We cut this vine into short pieces, boil them until the 
skin loosens. This we dry in the smoke and grind to powder 
between two stones, making a broth. It causes much thirst, 
however. 

We ate our dogs during the first fortnight. Next, we de- 
voured the pelts we had reserved for shoes, clothes, and socks, 
especially the beaver skins that were the walls of our cottages. 
We burned off the hair upon the coals. All these abhorrent 
things, we devoured. So eagerly did we eat that our gums 
did bleed! The bark mentioned was our only food the rest 
of the sorrowful time. We finally became images of Death! 
We frequently mistook ourselves, taking the living for the 
dead and the dead for the living. We wanted strength to 
draw our friends out of the cabins, and when we had to do 
so it was to put them four paces in the snow. At the end, 
the wrath of God begins to be appeased. A large volume 
would not contain the details of our sufferings. There were 
above five hundred dead, — men, women, and children. When 
we had abandoned hope, a few small, lean stags came our 
way. They were easily run down, because their feet stuck 
in the deep snow. Their throats were readily cut. I forgot 
to mention that the wildmen [Indians] charged us with having 
food surreptitiously brought to us by devils. Our sufferings 
were as great as any, but we did not give up, as did the 
natives. 



The French Explorations 



37 



Except for the fact that the Radisson manuscripts 
were not discovered at Oxford until many years after 
Longfellow had published Hiawatha, the presumption 
would be fair that he had drawn his facts and inspiration 
from them. Here is Canto XX., entitled " The Famine" : 



O the long and dreary Winter! 
O the cold and cruel Winter! 
Ever thicker, thicker, thicker 
Froze the ice on lake and river, 
Ever deeper, deeper, deeper 
Fell the snow o'er all the land- 
scape. 
Fell the covering snow, and 

drifted 
Through the forest, round the 
village. 
Hardly from his buried wig- 
wam 
Could the hunter force a passage ; 
With his mittens and his snow- 
shoes 
Vainly walked he through the for- 
est. 
Sought for bird or beast and 

found none, 
Saw no track of deer or rabbit, 
In the snow beheld no footprints, 
In the ghastly, gleaming forest 
Fell, and could not rise from 

weakness. 
Perished there from cold and hun- 
ger. 
the famine and the fever! 
O the wasting of the famine! 
O the blasting of the fever! 
O the wailing of the children! 
O the anguish of the women! 
All the earth was sick and 
famished; 
Hungry was the air around them. 
Hungry was the sky above them, 
And the hungry stars in heaven 
Like the eyes of wolves glared at 
them! 
Into Hiawatha's wigwam 
Came two other guests, as silent 
As the ghosts were, and as 

gloomy, 
Waited not to be invited, 
Did not parley at the doorway, 
Sat there without word of wel- 



In the seat of Laughing Water; 

Looked with haggard eyes and 
hollow 

At the face of Laughing Water. 
And the foremost said : " Be- 
hold me! 

I am Famine, Bukadawin! " 

And the other said : " Behold me ! 

I am Fever, Ahkosewin ! " 
And the lovely Minnehaha 

Shuddered as they looked upon 
her. 

Shuddered at the words they ut- 
tered, 

Lay down on her bed in silence. 

Hid her face, but made no answer; 

Lay there trembling, freezing, 
burning 

At the looks they cast upon her, 

At the fearful words they uttered. 
Forth into the empty forest 

Rushed the maddened Hiawatha; 

In his heart was deadly sorrow. 

In his face a stony firmness; 

On his brow the sweat of anguish 

Started, but it froze and fell not. 

" Gitche Manito the Mighty! " 
Cried he with his face uplifted 
In that bitter hour of anguish, 
" Give your children food, O 

father! 
Give us food, or we must perish ! 
Give me food for Minnehaha, 
For my dying Minnehaha! " 

Through the far - resounding 
forest. 
Through the forest vast and va- 
cant 
Rang that cry of desolation. 
But there came no other answer 
Than the echo of his crying, 
Than the echo of the woodlands, 
" Minnehaha! Minnehaha! " 

In the wigwam with Nokomis, 



38 



The Mississippi 



With those gloomy guests, that 

watched her, 
With the Famine and the Fever, 
She was lying, the Beloved, 
She the dying Minnehaha. 
"Hark!" she said; "I hear a 

rushing, 
Hear a roaring and a rushing, 
Hear the Falls of Minnehaha 
Calling to me from a distance! " 
" No, my child ! " said old Noko- 

mis, 
" 'T is the night-wind in the pine- 

"Look! "she said; "I see my 

father 
Standing lonely at his doorway, 
Beckoning to me from his wig- 
wam 
In the land of the Dacotahs ! " 
" No, my child ! " said old Noko- 

mis, 
" 'T is the smoke, that waves and 

beckons ! " 
" Ah ! " she said, " the eyes of 

Pauguk 
Glare upon me in the darkness, 
I can feel his icy fingers 
Clasping mine amid the darkness! 
Hiawatha! Hiawatha!" 

And the desolate Hiawatha, 
Far away amid the forest, 
Miles away among the mountains. 
Heard that sudden cry of anguish, 
Heard the voice of Minnehaha 
Calling to him in the darkness, 
" Hiawatha ! Hiawatha ! " 

Over snow-fields waste and 

pathless, 
Under snow-encumbered branches, 
Homeward hurried Hiawatha, 
Empty-handed, heavy-hearted, 
Heard Nokomis moaning, Vv^aiimg: 
" Wahonowin ! Wahonowin ! 
Would that I had perished for 

you, 



Would that I were dead as you 

are! 
Wahonowin ! Wahonowin ! " 
And he rushed into the wig- 
wam, 
Saw the old Nokomis slowly 
Rocking to and fro and moaning. 
Saw his lovely Minnehaha 
Lying dead and cold before him. 
And his bursting heart within 

him 
Uttered such a cry of anguish, 
That the forest moaned and shud- 
dered, 
That the very stars in heaven 
Shook and trembled with his an- 
guish. 
Then he sat down, still and 
speechless, 
On the bed of Minnehaha, 
At the feet of Laughing Water, 
At those willing feet, that never 
More would lightly run to meet 

him, 
Nevermore would lightly follow. 
With both hands his face he 
covered, 
Seven long days and nights he 

sat there, 
As if in a swoon he sat there, 
Speechless, motionless, uncon- 
scious 
Of the daylight or the darkness. 
Then they buried Minnehaha; 
In the snow a grave they made 

her. 
In the forest deep and darksome, 
Underneath the moaning hem- 
locks; 
Clothed her in her richest gar- 
ments, 
Wrapped her in her robes of 

ermine. 
Covered her with snow, like er- 
mine; 
Thus they buried Minnehaha. 



Warren Upham and J. V. B rower agree that the 
" small lake " was Knife Lake, Minnesota, about fif- 
teen miles south-east from Mille Lacs, the latter a large 
body of shallow water, with numerous islands, that 



The French Explorations 39 

drains southward into the Mississippi through the Rum 
River. Knife Lake is about ninety miles due west of 
Lac Courte Oreille. Had the river St. Croix not been 
frozen, the party could have descended to their former 
home on Prairie Island, where, no doubt, they would 
have had to reconquer the lands from the Sioux that 
had driven away the Hurons, whom the Frenchmen had 
left in possession three years before. As Radisson re- 
ports, five hundred people died of famine and pestilence 
at the Knife Lake settlement that winter! He and 
Groseilliers narrowly escaped the same fate. 

When spring came, the Frenchmen were as intent 
as they had originally been upon a great feast for the 
Indians of the surrounding country. Prior to going 
into winter quarters they had sent word to the eighteen 
settlements of Sioux, also to the O jib was, and they now 
summoned the Crees from the shore of Lake Superior. 
That feast caused native and foreigner alike to forget 
the terrible winter. Radisson's account of the enter- 
tainment would do credit to a society writer. Groseil- 
liers and Radisson were famous among the natives as 
" chin-chin men." The latter of the two strangers was 
the better orator but the former was probablj^ more 
familiar with the Indian languages. The eifect of the 
three weeks' entertainment by the two Frenchmen was 
felt among the Crees and Dakotas for two hundred 
years! It probably saved thousands of human lives, as 
white settlers began to enter the " wildman's countiy,'* 
and it made missionary work among the natives less 
dangerous. 

At the close of the feast, Groseilliers and Radisson, 
inseparable on this journey, accompanied the Tinton- 
wan Sioux bands on a visit to their homes, far to the 



40 The Mississippi 

westward of the Mississippi. Their route is not as 
clearly defined as could be wished, but authorities agree 
that the party descended the Rum River to the Missis- 
sippi at the present site of Anoka, thence by a land 
route to the Minnesota River, which was ascended to the 
prairie country/ Mr. J. V. Brower, to whom the peo- 
ple of United States owe Itasca Park, at the sources 
of the Mississippi, argued that the Frenchmen returned 
with their Sioux hosts to the sources of Crow River, 
which joins the Mississippi eight miles above Anoka, 
and did not go near the Minnesota River. It will be 
noticed on a map that the Minnesota makes a long 
detour to the southward before it starts upon its north- 
westerly course. B rower's argument is based upon the 
non-reference of Radisson to St. Anthony's Falls, a 
very tenable reason. Whichever route they travelled 
to " the Sioux of Buffalo Land " they are believed to 
have returned by the Minnesota and to have encamped 
under the bluff upon which Saint Paul stands. The 
rocky heights of Fort Snelling did not have the 
picturesque, casemated castle that afterward crowned 
them. 

The return to the stockade at Chequamegon Bay, 
Lake Superior, was made by very much the same route 
as that over which they had entered the country. At 
this point appear several irreconcilable points in the 
narrative, — probably due to changes subsequently 
made to introduce the Hudson Bay " diversion," which 
the best of evidence proves never occurred. But it 
appears credible that in the early part of 1660, the 

1 Mr. Upham discusses the mystery of non-reference to St. An- 
thony's Falls by Radisson in Minnesota Historical Society Collections, 
vol. X., Part II, pp. 502-503.— J. C. 



The French Explorations 41 

western end of Lake Superior was encumbered with 
broken ice. Mr. Upham cites a paper read before the 
Minnesota Historical Society in 1898 by John R. Carey, 
in which the statement is made that he, the speaker, 
*' knew two men who got off a steamboat that had been 
stuck in the ice in sight of Duluth for several days, on 
June 9th, about forty years ago, and walked to the 
shore, a distance of six miles." Residents of Duluth 
assure me that such conditions are very exceptional. 
But Groseilliers and Radisson pushed their way across 
the western end of Lake Superior that June, to trade 
with pelt hunters of the St. Louis River, not far from 
the present site of the town of Two Harbours. The 
Frenchmen returned to their base on Chequamegon Bay 
and outfitted for the seven or eight weeks' homeward 
journey to Three Rivers. There is no available space 
to give to that voyage. 

The importance of the two expeditions of Groseil- 
liers and Radisson is such that it is not greatly dwarfed 
by the incontestable fact that they failed to realise 
the magnitude of their discoveries. Radisson was not 
the braggart that others who followed him became. 
For genuine pioneership these Frenchmen stand un- 
challenged. Radisson also belongs to literature, because 
modern spelling and a moderate resort to the blue pen- 
cil — the lash under which all inexperienced writers of 
diaries have to go — would render some of his work 
equal to I'arkman or the best of Cooper. Groseilliers 
and Radisson have left their footprints so plainly in 
Wisconsia and Minnesota that time never will efface 
them. 

Mr. Upham sums up the work of these two men 
admirably when he says: 



42 The Mississippi 

Among all the very interesting records of negotiations and 
treaties of " peace and union/' made with the Indians of the 
North-west by forerunners and agents of the French fur-trade, 
none is more picturesque and dramatic than this. In the late 
autumn or winter of 1634-35, Jean Nicolet, wearing a fan- 
tastic silken Chinese vestment, met the Winnebago Indians 
for a ceremonious conference, in the vague belief that their 
country might border on the farthest eastern parts of Asia. 
In 1660, Groseilliers and Kadisson, as we have seen, probably 
within the area of Kanabec county, in the east central part 
of Minnesota, taught to the Sioux and the Crees, previously 
hostile to each other, peace and friendship toward the French. 
In 1679, Du Luth ceremoniously planted the arms of France 
in the great village of the Isanti tribe at Mille Lacs, and in 
other Sioux villages of north-eastern Minnesota, none of which, 
as he says, had been before visited by any Frenchman; and 
on the 15th of September in that year, at the west end of 
Lake Superior, he negotiated a great treaty with the as- 
sembled tribes of the north, inducing them to make peace 
with the Sioux, " their common enemy." During the remain- 
ing years of the seventeenth century, Perrot, in 1689, at Fort 
St. Antoine, on the Wisconsin shore of Lake Pepin, and Le 
Sueur in 1693 at Chequamegon Bay, later at his trading post 
built on Prairie Island in 1695 according to the command of 
the Governor of Canada, and again in the winter of 1700 at 
his Fort L'Huillier, on the Blue Earth River, were conspicuous 
by their efforts to maintain peace among the Indian tribes, 
loyalty to the French, and consequent extension and prosperity 
of the fur-trade. 

We may thank Radisson for his particular care to describe 
the Sioux who attended the great feast. He thus gave the 
earliest portrayal of the characteristics of that people, the 
aboriginal owners of the greater part of Minnesota. It is to 
be regretted, however, that he recorded only a very meagre 
account of the ensuing visit of these French traders with the 
Sioux of the Buffalo Prairies ("the Nation of the Beef") 
in their own country. 



The French Explorations 43 

III — ALLOUEZ FINDS A NAME 

The pioneer voyages of Groseilliers and Radisson 
had been inspired by hope of commercial gain; but we 
are now to witness the powerful influence of religion 
in the field of exploration. 

When the flotilla of native canoes that came every 
spring to French settlements on the St. Lawrence was 
ready in the autumn of 1665 to begin the homeward 
voyage to " The Big Sea Water," Father Allouez 
joined it. 

The party arrived at the Sault Ste. Marie on Sep- 
tember 2d. Before the great lake froze, Allouez had 
proceeded to the western end of Superior and had 
planted a cross and founded a mission at La Pointe, 
on Chequamegon Bay, near the site of the present town 
of Ashland. Of the hardships of that long trip, no 
record remains. Diplomatist, as well as priest, Al- 
louez made friends with eight hundred Algonquin war- 
riors in the neighbourhood of La Pointe and took sides 
with them against their traditional enemies, the Iro- 
quois. He recognised the efficacy of the war club, the 
tomahawk, and the arrow when needed to convince a 
foe of error. During his intercourse with various tribes 
along the coast of the Gitche Gumee ("The Shining 
Big Sea Water ") , Allouez first heard the name " Mis- 
sipi" applied to "The Great Running Water." He was 
of opinion that the river flowed into the Sea of Vir- 
ginia (Chesapeake). It is significant that neither 
Groseilliers nor Radisson had brought back that name! 
Lack of knowledge of the languages of the region may 
explain, but hardly to the satisfaction of doubters. 



44 The Mississippi 

At the Sault Ste. Marie mission. Fathers Marquette 
and Dablon had been labouring for two years before the 
former was despatched westward to La Pointe in Sep- 
tember, 1669, to reheve Allouez, who voyaged to the 
head of Green Bay, on Lake Michigan, to exert the 
reformatory influences of rehgion upon a band of 
French coureurs de hois that had demorahsed the na- 
tive of that locahty. Allouez arrived in early winter 
and established the mission of St. Francis Xavier among 
the Pottawattomies. In the spring of 1670, he as- 
cended the Fox River, portaged to the head of the Wis- 
consin, which, he recorded in his next report to Quebec, 
" led to the great river ' Messisipi,' six days' journey 
by canoe." The Jesuit "Relation " of the years 1669-70, 
to which we shall have occasion to refer frequently, 
specifically mentions this river again, Allouez adding: 
*' It is more than a league [2.76 miles] wide, and flows 
from North to South. The natives never have reached 
its mouth: none of them knows whether it empties into 
the Gulf of Florida or the Vermilion Sea" (Gulf of 
California). 

This information is somewhat more definite than 
had been learned four years previously by the same 
missionary, when he had first heard the name " Mis- 
sipi." This earnest man filled Marquette's mind with 
a sincere longing to become an explorer. Accounts of 
the great stream had appeared in the " Relations,'* 
compiled at Quebec from the reports of Jesuit Fathers 
(Allouez does not appear to have heard of Groseil- 
liers and Radisson), and, as he supposed, Marquette 
determined to be first of all white men upon the river. 
He wrote, " If I get a canoe which the natives have 
promised to make for me, I intend to navigate this 



The French Explorations 45 

stream, to meet the tribes far down its course, and to 
decide the ultimate direction of its flow." He added 
that he would take with him a Frenchman (probably 
a converted coureur de hois) who spoke the languages 
of the natives. He uses the full word " Mississippi," 
variously spelled. The " Relation " of 1671 reports 
that Indians who had seen both rivers declared 
that " for more than three hundred leagues from 
its mouth it is wider than the St. Lawrence at 
Quebec." 

A new name of which we shall hear much, that of 
Louis Joliet, comes to the fore. An expedition to the 
Great Lakes, in search of copper mines, led by him, 
had returned, unsuccessful. In the spring of 1671, we 
hear of him as a member of the imposing pageant 
headed by Simon Fran9ois Daumont, Sieur St, Lus- 
son, sent to the Sault Ste. Marie to impress the natives 
with the majesty and glory of France. This cere- 
monial, fully described in the " Relation " of 1671, oc- 
curred on June 14th, of that year. At this durbar, or 
function, St. Lusson " assumed power for the French 
sovereign over all the territory from the North to the 
South Sea and extending to the ocean on the west." 
Not a signatory of that presumptuous document knew 
the extent of the territory to which claim was made. 
It had for fair precedent the bull of Alexander VI! 
The four immortal names signed to that paper are the 
Jesuit Fathers Claude Dablon, Louis Andre, Gabriel 
Druillettes, and Claude Allouez. The masterly but 
florid speech of Allouez to the assembled savages, 
gathered from all parts of the Superior, Illinois, and 
Michigan regions, is a classic. It was preserved by 
Father Dablon. When the ceremonial ended, we hear 



46 The Mississippi 

nothing more of Louis Johet for two years, when he 
and INIarquette loom large in history. 

It is not necessary to attach great importance to 
the only account that has come down to us of the ex- 
pedition of the Spanish Governor of New Mexico, who, 
at an unknown date in 1661, set out from Santa Fe 
*' to visit the 'Quivera' Indians." The "Relation" is by 
the hand of Father Nicholas Freytas, chronicler of the 
expedition, and the only possible claim to credibility 
that can be set up for it is that it mentions the name 
of the great river. If that word were not interpolated 
at a later date by some jealous rival of Father Allouez, 
Frej^tas and not Allouez must be given credit for first 
introducing the word " Mischipi " to the civilised world. 
Here is the paragraph upon which the Freytas claim 
stands or falls: 

" Through these most pleasant and fertile fields we 
marched during the months of IMarch, April, JMay, and 
the kalends of June, and arrived at a large river which 
they call ' Mischipi,' where we saw the first Indians 
of the Escanxaques nation, who might be to the number 
of three thousand, most warlike." 

The almost conclusive argument against the Freytas 
claim to first mention of this Algonquin name for the 
Mississippi is that the Penalosa expedition did not pass 
anywhere near the lands in which the Algonquins dwelt. 
The name " Quiveras " does not appear in any other 
" Relation." If they were adjacent to the Arkansas na- 
tion, Tonty, La Salle, or Bienville would have been 
very likely to have heard of them and to have left 
some record of their location. The distance from Santa 
Fe to the Mississippi, as the crow flies, is about eight 
hundred miles, which assuredly might have been tra- 



The French Explorations 47 

versed in the hundred days claimed by the chronicler 
for the undertaking. Governor Penalosa was the last 
of the Spaniards for whom any original discovery asso- 
ciated with the great American river has been claimed. 
Father Freyias locates the Escanxaques as " having 
north of them the Land of Fire " (i. e. the Maskoutens 
country) . 

IV — WONDERFUL LA SALLE ! 

A member of a rich Rouen family, Rene Robert 
Cavelier, known to history as Sieur de la Salle, had 
appeared at Montreal several years previously. He 
had come ostensibly to visit a brother in Canada be- 
longing to the Sulpitian order. Hennepin has declared 
that this young man of twenty-three had been a Jesuit 
novice in France, but not a particle of proof exists. 
An early act of his was to join the Sulpitian Fathers; 
next, he applied for and secured a grant of land, on 
the St. Lawrence above the rapids — a site suggested 
thirt}'^ years previously by Champlain for a trading post. 
This was about 1667. He formed a small colony, built 
a stockade, and began the life of a grand seigneur. 
Some Senecas visited him for barter and the tales they 
spun about a great river, faring south-west, that could 
be followed for eight months to the sea, filled La Salle's 
mind with a craze for exploration and wealth. As 
Justin Winsor cleverly comments, the Seneca's story 
" is comprehensible to-day by combining in one the 
courses of the Alleghany, the Ohio, and the JMississippi ; 
but to La Salle's imagination, it was a vision of the 
great waterway that had been sought since the time of 
Cartier." He cast religion to the winds! 



48 The Mississippi 

Mad with passion for fame and wealth, La Salle, 
who had tied up his money in his stockaded post on 
the St. Lawrence, hurried to Quebec in hope of rais- 
ing funds. The Governor, Courcelles, gave him letters 
patent of the broadest scope but nothing in money. He 
returned to Montreal and organised a syndicate. Chief 
among these associates was the Sieur de la Roussiliere. 
La Salle seemed undecided in which direction to travel 
but a Sulpitian priest, Dollier de Casson, threw the 
deciding die. During the previous winter, passed in 
the Nipissing country, he had picked up a renegade 
French trooper who had claimed to have voyaged far 
beyond the Great Lakes, and had inspired the local 
head of the Sulpitians with the dream of pushing his 
missions farther into the wilderness. The chief of the 
Jesuits in Canada, Laval, happened to visit Montreal 
(May 15, 1669) and readily gave to Father Dollier a 
letter commanding the aid of all Jesuits, wherever met. 
Laval suggested the valley of the Mississippi as a 
future field. 

La Salle converted his seigneury near Montreal into 
cash and on July 6, 1669, with twenty men in seven 
canoes, headed up the St. Lawrence. Galinee, one of 
the party, left a journal of this trip, the manuscript 
of which is now in the Bibliotheque Nationale, at Paris. 
The expedition entered Lake Ontario and made a land- 
ing at Irondequoit Bay, August 26th; but when La 
Salle, Galinee, and others reached the Jesuit mission, 
the priests of that order had gone away to Onondaga 
(in what is now central New York) to attend a council. 
In disappointment. La Salle returned to the lake and 
passed the outlet of the Niagara River, without seeing 
the falls, although Galinee says their roar was heard. 



The French Explorations 49 

Champlain had previously visited and described Niagara 
(1603)/ 

At the western end of Lake Ontario, Louis Joliet 
and Pere, returning from the copper prospecting tour 
previously mentioned, were met. La Salle and Joliet, 
nearly of an age and equally adventurous, struck up a 
friendship at once. Here, the two priests, Dollier and 
Galinee, broke away. La Salle was suffering from ill- 
ness, caused, according to the sarcastic Galinee, " by a 
sudden encounter with rattlesnakes," although he was 
not bitten. It was really a split between the two mis- 
sionaries and the men actuated only by commercial im- 
pulses. The two Sulpitians portaged to Lake Erie and 
upon its shore went into winter quarters. In the spring, 
after many mishaps, Dollier and his companion pro- 
ceeded up the Detroit River and reached the mission 
at the Sault in May, 1670. Here, they found Fathers 
IMarquette and Dablon. Laval's letter was not favour- 
ably received there and the two wandering priests 
returned to Montreal by the Ottawa route. 

From the moment he parted mth Fathers Dollier 
and Galinee, La Salle's movements become vague. He 
was in eclipse for two years. Perhaps his reputation 
unjustly suffers from the absence of a chronicler, like 
Galinee. Many of his men deserted and returned to 
JNIontreal. Where La Salle passed the two years that 
intervened before his reappearance at Montreal is liter- 
ally unknown! Margry, of Paris, courageously pub- 



1 DES SA WAGES, OV VOYAGE DE SAMVEL CHAMPLAIN, 
DE BROVAGE, a fait en la France nouuelle, Fan mil six cents 
trois. A Paris, Chez CLAVDE DE MONSTR'OEILL, 1603. (Only 
four copies known. One, owned by Mr. Mitchell Kennerley, recently 
sold at auction in New York for $2900. — J. C.) 



50 The Mississippi 

lished a curious series of " Conversations " with La 
Salle, said to have occurred in Paris in 1678, wherein 
a claim is set up to the discovery of the Ohio River in 
1670; and that he voyaged thereon as far as the Mis- 
sissippi. Margry also asserts that, in 1671, La Salle 
" went by Lake Michigan to the Chicago portage and, 
by descending the Illinois River, again entered the 
Mississippi." This would appear to have been spoken or 
written by a man who was deficient in knowledge of 
geography. Claims to two visits cannot be substan- 
tiated. No information regarding the return routes 
eastward in either the first or the second alleged trip 
is presented. Gravier was a warm defender of La 
Salle. Parkman believed the Frenchman descended the 
Ohio as far as the falls and that his men deserted him 
there, instead of at the Mississippi, as stated by Margry. 
As a matter of fact, the Ohio rapids at Louisville are 
readily run in canoes — the fall being only twenty-seven 
feet in two and a half miles. Upon the slender thread 
of an anonymous publication, impossible of verification, 
rests La Salle's claim to have visited the upper 
Mississippi ahead of Marquette. 

The determination and energy of the man from 
Rouen was such that he made two subsequent efforts 
to reach the great river, the second from the Gulf of 
Mexico. In this last voyage he was accompanied by 
his brother, the Sulpitian priest, John Cavelier, whose 
chronicle, as far as it goes, is wholly authenticated. 

V — JOLIET AND MARQUETTE 

Prior to the finding of the Radisson manuscripts 
at Oxford, the claim of Joliet and JMarquette to a first 



The French Explorations 51 

sight of the upper Mississippi was uncontested, except 
by the upholders of the La Salle contentions. There 
had been arguments that Deguerre (1652), Drocoux 
(1657), Allouez (1668), Pinet (1670), and Augustine 
Meulan de Circe (1670) had visited the Mississippi by 
the Illinois River route in the years mentioned. The 
late Dr. Shea devoted many years of his life to clear- 
ing up Marquette's record, and ultimately established 
the credibility of the missionary's narrative. In the 
statuary room of the Capitol at Washington stands a 
marble effigy of the good priest who first explored the 
river that gives name to the State of Wisconsin: it was 
erected by the citizens of that State. 

In far away Paris, Colbert never lost sight of the 
vast possessions that lay beyond and south of the Great 
Lakes of North America. His ambitions, if we are 
to believe Charlevoix, exceeded his knowledge. Ap- 
parently, the English had not detected his intention 
to seize all North American territory as far as the Gulf 
of California, into which he believed, as did nearly 
everybody, that the widely heralded Mississippi emptied. 

The Comte de Frontenac was Governor at Quebec. 
Although a staunch Catholic, he hated the Jesuits.^ On 
impulse, he is alleged to have stopped the publication 
of their " Relations," a misfortune of the most lamen- 
table character. Frontenac hoped to divert attention 
from his own unpopularity in New France by sending 
men to carry out Colbert's ambitious dreams. Joliet 
had already been selected and he was responsible for 
the choice of Father Marquette, a member of the order 

'^Discovery of the Mississippi, John Gilmer Shea; Redfield, New 
York, 1852. Also, Collections of the Wisconsin Historical Society, 
vol. iii. 



52 The Mississippi 

that Frontenac feared and disliked. Joliet was a Cana- 
dian, son of a waggon-smith; but the only man who 
objected to the appointment was silenced by a reminder 
that Paul of Tarsus was a tent-maker. Joliet had had 
experience in the wilderness, as we know. La Salle, 
who understood him, was absent on his vaguely-defined 
visit to Ohio and Lake Michigan, and, unfortunately, 
did not return until a month after Joliet's departure 
in August, 1672. Joliet wintered at Mackinaw, where 
he cultivated the acquaintance of Marquette, who had 
been at the head of the Jesuit mission there for two 
years. His experience among the natives exceeded that 
of Joliet, and the latter fixed upon him as a valued 
coadjutor. Whether or not Father Marquette secured 
the consent of Monseigneur Laval to accompanj^ Fron- 
tenac's agent, Joliet, may never be known, but he 
decided to go. 

Joliet was chief of the expedition; but Marquette 
kept " the log," which accounts for the minor figure 
that the former cuts in the narrative of this memorable 
voyage. An opportunity presents itself to the writer 
at this point to display vast erudition regarding the 
peaceful conquest that the Governor of New France 
was planning, but he puts it aside. A publishers' war 
of the keenest sort between map-makers had broken 
out in Europe. Sanson, the boldest guesser among 
them, had issued a chart of the Great Lake region in 
1669, in which he made Lake Michigan larger than 
Superior. 

Father Marquette's " Narrative," as printed by 
Margry, of Paris, takes two forms. The text was 
originally sent from the wilderness to Father Dablon, 
at Quebec, and bv him embodied in his " Relation," 



The French Explorations 53 

which was forwarded to Paris. The original was 
retained at Quebec ; when the two versions were printed, 
some discrepancies were pointed out. They are not 
serious and do not affect the credibihty of the docu- 
ments. Dr. John G. Shea first pubHshed Marquette's 
journal in English. 

The party started from Mackinaw in two large 
canoes, seven men in all, on May 17, 1673, going by 
the route to Green Bay that Jean Nicolet had followed 
thirty-eight years before. Thence, they ascended the 
Fox River, as Groseilliers and Radisson had done, and 
made the mile and three quarters portage into the Wis- 
consin River, — although Marquette does not appear to 
have known its name. The narrative of that trip to 
the Mississippi is so full of details that doubt of its 
occurrence is removed. Every bend in the Wisconsin 
and many of its natural features are mentioned. 

The two canoes emerged from a sheltering head- 
land upon the broad, swift current of the Mississippi 
on June 17, 1673, — just one month after starting. 
Marquette says he " found nineteen fathoms of water " 
(one hundred and fourteen feet!), an error due to en- 
thusiasm, doubtless. Remembering Father Allouez's 
reports upon his return, he recorded the river's name 
as " Missipi." The priest gives the latitude as 42l/^° 
N., approximately correct. Prairie du Chien, which is 
to-day near the mouth of that river, is in north latitude 
43° 3', and the distance from the portage to that point 
is one hundred and eighty miles.^ 

Marquette's party then descended the great river 
and at a point below 40° (or about sixty leagues) 

1 Marquette's Map on page 248, Justin Winsor's book. Houghton, 
Mifflin & Co. 



54 The Mississippi 

they discovered a foot-path " leading into a beautiful 
prairie." (Marquette doesn't say upon which bank, 
although it becomes apparent later in the narrative.) 
He and Joliet undertook to follow the trail alone. 
They discovered an Indian village at the end of two 
leagues (about five and a half miles). Near-by on a 
river, were two other villages. The smaller stream upon 
which these teepees stood would appear to have been 
the Des Moines, which fixes the field of exploration in 
what is now Iowa. Priest and trader were hospitably 
received; they smoked the calumet and many speeches 
were exchanged. Marquette causes the Illinois, who 
were away from their home upon a hunting excursion, 
to talk like the Mohicans in Fenimore Cooper's novels. 
The sachem gave to the visitors a dog-feast. 

The stay with the Illinois was brief, and toward the 
end of June, priest and pelfer resumed their journey 
with the current, noticing mulberry and persimmon 
trees. They passed cliffs upon which were painted 
the images of two monsters: these palisades are known 
to this day as "the Painted Rocks," although the designs 
that gave to them name have long vanished. 

The entrance of the muddy, or coffee-hued, Missouri 
is graphically described by Marquette, who, being 
physicist as well as priest, reasoned that the Mississippi 
was driven as nearly south as possible by the impetu- 
osity of its added tributary from the north-west and 
that its mouth was on the Gulf of ^lexico instead of 
the Vermilion Sea. He so declared, without resei-vation, 
and his opinion, formed by deduction, is almost as great 
a mental triumph as was subsequent physical proof, 
suppHed by Tonty and the Ursuline Sisterhood. As 
every visitor to Saint Louis will recall, the waters of 



The French Explorations 55 

the two streams have not mixed, even at that point. 
Marquette rightly conjectured that it would be possible 
to ascend the Missouri and its tributaries and find a 
portage into some great river that delivered its waters 
into the Gulf of California. It was a good guess; the 
headwaters of the Platte almost interlock with the 
Colorado. 

The site of Saint Louis was a dense forest. The 
next great affluent entered from the east, twenty leagues 
below the Missouri. It was the Ohio, known to the 
natives as the Ouabache (Wabash). Joliet, or his 
chronicler, does not record any traces of La Salle's pre- 
vious visit to that place. They then " entered the mos- 
quito country" as called in Chippewa-land to-day. Soon 
after, they saw natives with fire-arms, the Chicachas, 
who, after parleying, received the travellers. As other 
voyagers had been told, Marquette was assured that not 
more than ten days' journey separated them from the 
sea. Everywhere, the natives were friendly, — indeed 
they continued to be until the white man treated them 
with injustice. The voyageurs redoubled their pad- 
dling and arrived at Akamsea, the mouth of the 
Arkansas River, which JMarquette locates 33° 40' N. 
latitude, — probably not far from the Indian village of 
Guachoya, where Hernando de Soto had breathed his 
last, one hundred and thirty years before. It will be 
recalled that the Spaniards under Moscoso, Soto's suc- 
cessor, attained the mouth of the Mississippi from this 
point after sixteen days. This would appear to prove 
that Soto died near the mouth of the Arkansas, instead 
of that of the Red River. 

Here, again, Marquette was told that the sea was 
" only ten days distant." Stories they heard about the 



56 The Mississippi 

warlike character of the tribes between Akamsea and the 
Gulf and distrust of the Spaniards, into whose clutches 
they must fall, caused priest and trader to agree that 
the voyage had lasted long enough. A desire to send 
his report of the trip to Quebec greatly influenced 
Marquette; the Spaniards might seize the records and 
prevent their use. 

The return voyage was begun, therefore, on July 
17, 1673. It may be disposed of in a few sentences. 
Marquette turned into the IlHnois and passed by the 
familiar route (of the present Chicago drainage canal) 
to Lake Michigan. He was detained at the mission 
of St. Francis Xavier, in Green Bay, during the en- 
tire summer of 1674. In November of that year, he 
set out for the Illinois country but an illness, from 
which he had thought himself cured, returned, and " he 
died gloriously at the age of thirty-eight years." His 
last words were, " I believe that my Redeemer liveth." 
The description of his last hours, near the site of the 
present city of Chicago, by Father Dablon, is worthy 
of any Uterature. Years later, some Kiskakon Indians, 
dwelling at the Sault Ste. Marie, removed the body of 
Father Marquette to the shrine he had established at 
Mackinaw, — the church of St. Ignatius. 

Joliet was welcomed on his arrival at the Sault 
Ste. Marie. As he had been very ill, he wintered there 
and went forward to Quebec in the summer. Joliet 
lost all his records in the Lachine Rapids, where two 
of his men were drowned. 

VI — LA SAJLLE TRIES AGAIN 

The reports that Joliet brought home threw La 



The French Explorations 57 

Salle into a white heat. He accepted Marquette's rea- 
soning and Joliet's statements, based on talk with na- 
tives at the Arkansas River, that the Gulf of Mexico 
received the floods of the Mississippi. He hurried to 
France and obtained a commission. 

In the fall of 1675, Louis Hennepin, a Recollect 
friar, arrived at Quebec from France. He was wel- 
comed by Frontenac with joy as offering a foil for 
the Jesuit dominance under which the Governor chafed. 
La Salle came on the same ship with Hennepin. Also 
on board was Duchesneau, the new Intendant, to re- 
place Talon, sent as a spy upon Frontenac. 

La Salle went to Fort Frontenac, at the western 
end of Lake Ontario, under the terms of his grant and 
spent thirty-five thousand livres in strengthening its 
walls. Hennepin set up a mission among the Iroquois 
near that fort. La Salle cherished dreams of curbing 
the British advances to the south. His probable plan 
was to open trade with the Mississippi, through the 
Alleghany and Ohio rivers, but hostility of the natives 
defeated it. La Salle suddenly departed for Quebec and 
in November, 1677, sailed for France. There, he floated 
on the high tide of success; he secured confirmation of 
his seigneural rights at Fort Frontenac and convinced 
his sovereign that the valuable peltry regions of the 
West could be more easily reached from the new base 
that he had created. 

Money poured into his hands; but the greatest 
treasure he secured in Paris was Henry Tonty, an 
Italian soldier of fortune, who, in good or evil report, 
for ever after remained staunch in his fidelity to and 
respect for La Salle. To this day, the one-armed 
Tonty is the hero of the Mississippi. 



58 The Mississippi 

Accompanied by Tonty, La Salle set sail from La 
Rochelle in August, 1678, with fittings for a vessel 
that was to be built on Lake Erie. At Quebec, after 
a conference with Frontenac, La Salle decided to send 
Cadillac and Hennepin ahead to the Illinois country 
to establish food stations and arrange for trading posts 
before his coming the following spring. Cadillac 
stopped at the mouth of the Niagara River, where he 
was well received by the Senecas, who " burned an In- 
dian prisoner for his entertainment." La Salle and 
Tonty joined Cadillac and together they selected the 
mouth of Cayuga Creek, on Niagara River opposite 
the Grand Island, as the place to lay the keel of a 
fifty-ton (Tonty says forty-ton) vessel in which to navi- 
gate the northern lakes. Leaving Tonty with a score 
of ship-carpenters, La Salle went to the mouth of the 
Niagara River, built a blockhouse named Foii; Conti, 
and then to Fort Frontenac. 

In May, the Griffon was launched, and for safety 
from the Senecas was anchored offshore. She car- 
ried five small guns.^ Tonty, with a small party, went 
ahead by Lake Erie to the Strait (Detroit) where he 
arrived August 10th. The bark, Griffon, started for 
Detroit late in July and after much difficulty in get- 
ting out the Niagara River into the lake, overtook the 
Tonty party at the entrance to the " strait." All were 
taken aboard. Without mishap, they sailed to Lake 
Huron and anchored at Mackinaw on September 17, 
1679. A start was made for the river of the Miamis 



1 From this point we follow the " Relation of Henry de Tonty, 
written from Quebec, Nov. 14, 1684, and addressed to Abbe Renau- 
dot, who was his patron near the Prince de Conti and who introduced 
Tonty to M. de La Salle."— Margry. 



The French Explorations 59 

(St. Joseph River) on October 5th, and coasting Lake 
Michigan one hundred and twenty leagues they landed 
at their destination November 12th. There, La Salle 
was found building a fort. An attempt to murder La 
Salle was made by one of the twenty-nine French- 
men during the portage to the Illinois River. The 
mental grief he must have suffered when he became 
conscious that poison had been given to him by dis- 
loyal companions, who hoped by his death to avoid the 
dangerous trip ahead of them, must have been infinitely 
greater than any physical agony he endured. His 
despair was indicated by the name he gave to the 
stockade he built, soon after, at the Illinois portage, 
Creve Cceur, — the fort of the " Broken Heart." On 
December 15th, a conspiracy among the men to take 
the boats and desert was discovered and frustrated. 
Tonty describes the descent of the Illinois in admirable 
manner. An Illinois village was seen on January 4, 
1680; and although the weather was very cold, the In- 
dians were naked. While visiting with these natives, 
poison was found in La Salle's porridge and six of his 
men, probably implicated in the plot, deserted. The 
building of a forty-ton vessel was undertaken for the 
descent of the Mississippi. 

Meanwhile, Father Louis Hennepin was sent north- 
ward into the land of the Sioux. For some unaccount- 
able reason. La Salle declared his intention to return 
by land to Fort Frontenac, on Lake Ontario, " a 
journey of four hundred leagues." He departed on 
March 10th. Tonty, with a few men, remained through 
the summer and fall of that year, and his description 
of an attack from the Iroquois is a graphic picture of 
Indian warfare. After wandering about all that winter. 



6o The Mississippi 

the retreat to Green Bay was accomphshed and Macki- 
naw saw the sorely famished party on Corpus Christi 
day, 1681. La Salle arrived next day: his purpose to 
return to the Mississippi quest was inflexible. His 
account of his long tramp across what is now Illinois, 
Indiana, and Ohio to Lake Erie was listened to with 
much interest. 

Back went Tonty, under La Salle's orders, to the 
mouth of the St. Joseph River, arriving November 10th, 
and on December 19th, La Salle joined him. Finding 
the river full of ice, the party coasted the lake (Michi- 
gan) " to a certain little river called Chicago," from 
which stream they portaged a league and a half into 
another creek that emptied into the Illinois. Sleds 
were used to transport the packs. At this point, Tonty 
gives a complete roster of the twenty-three Frenchmen 
and eighteen " savages." After dragging their outfit 
for seventy leagues, open water was found, more canoes 
were constructed, and the descent to the Mississippi ac- 
complished on February 6, 1682. This was Tonty's 
first sight of the great river, which La Salle named 
" Colbert," after his patron. 

Tonty describes the camp life at the mouth of the 
Illinois, with its hardships and diversions. He men- 
tions the catch of a catfish so large that it " supplied 
ample food for twenty-two men." This recalls the later 
Southern negro story of the same sort of fish that was 
*' six feet between the eyes, — go as you please on its 
length." 

Tonty's account of the descent of the Mississippi 
to the mouth of the Arkansas is rather more graphic 
than is Marquette's, abounding in incidents such as 
Pierre Proud'homme, the gun-smith of the expedition. 



The French Explorations 6i 

getting lost in the woods; the finding of large quanti- 
ties of bean-bearing vines clinging to trees; the cere- 
monial of the calumet, and the forming of an intrenched 
camp that would have delighted Violet le Due, or 
Vauban. La Salle " took possession of the land at the 
mouth of the Arkansas, in the name of his Most 
Christian Majesty, and set up the king's arms." 

During the trip down-stream to the Taensas, "beaver 
and otter were not found, owing to the presence of 
crocodiles " (alligators) . Buffalo were seen all the way 
to the sea! The western bank was followed until March 
22 (1682), when Tonty visited a remarkable native 
village, having houses of clay, with dome-shaped roofs 
that were rain-proof. The chief received him seated 
upon a couch instead of upon the ground. More than 
sixty elderly warriors, habited in long white shrouds, 
stood around. A torch of dry canes burned in this 
audience chamber and, strangest of all, the four walls 
were decorated with paintings and hung with yellowish 
copper shields. An alcove was the chief's sleeping 
quarters. Camp cots were used for the occupancy of 
the chiefs of the eight villages that were his depen- 
dencies. (These are the descriptions appropriated by 
M. Chateaubriand.) With their hands raised to their 
heads, these old men shouted, like coyotes, "Ho, ho! 
Ho, ho!" (This is the Chippewa form of greeting 
to this day in the Itasca country. "Ho!" uttered 
singly, means " Thank you " ; but repeated several 
times it is a friendly welcome.) In very many ways, 
the Taensas showed the effects of a foreign civilisation. 
Among other evidences, Tonty mentions the fact that 
food was served to each guest in a separate glazed 
earthenware bowl ; that nobody passed between the torch 



62 The Mississippi 

and the chief, and that the cooking showed signs of 
the cuhnaiy art. The chief had pendants containing six- 
teen large pearls hanging from his ears. He told 
Tonty they were taken from shells, plenty in the river. 
When Tonty returned to La Salle's camp after his 
visit to the Taensa chief, the commandant insisted that 
he go back after the pearls. He did so and received 
them in exchange for a cheap bracelet. They were as 
large as peas and La Salle took them. The Taensas 
had a temple facing the chief's cabin, containing an 
altar. Upon the top of the lodge were three eagles 
looking toward the morning sun, and upon its exterior 
walls were exposed heads of enemies slain in battle. 
A redoubt with watch-towers of hard wood enclosed 
this house of worship. Guards watched day and night. 
Ten leagues' farther progress toward the mouth of 
the Mississippi was made on March 25, 1682. Next 
day, going southward, a log canoe (pirogue) was seen 
crossing the broad river. Savages appeared on both 
banks. La Salle reluctantly sent Tonty with the peace 
pipe. When he landed, the natives received him seated, 
which was a sign of peace, and then cheerfully smoked 
the calumet. A knife was given to the chief, " which 
he hastily hid in his robe as if guilty of a theft." The 
chief clasj)ed his own hands to signify his friendship. 
Tonty says he imitated the native's action (" je le 
contrefis"). Some commentators have smiled at this 
statement, because Tonty only had one arm. It is 
known, however, that he had a bronze hand which he 
might have clasped with his real one. Two warriors 
were despatched to La Salle, across the river, Tonty 
remaining as hostage. After a conference, they re- 
turned with all the Frenchmen of the party, including 



The French Explorations 63 

La Salle. The commandant accepted an invitation to 
go to the neighbouring village of the tribe, called Nahy 
(Natchez, according to Parkman) and passed the night 
there. The Taensas practised slavery: Tonty speaks 
of buying a boy slave and his mother from them. 

Next day, La Salle's party, accompanied by many 
friendly natives, went ten leagues down-stream to a 
village of the Cordoas. On Easter Day, another start 
was made for the sea, said to be ten days distant. At 
the end of eighty leagues (two hundred and twenty 
miles), Indians were descried on the western bank and 
the war drums were heard. The French disembarked 
at the mouth of a small creek and Tonty constructed 
a fortified angle as a defence against arrows. Four 
men sent to reconnoitre were attacked with a shower 
of arrows. The French party, with native followers, 
re-embarked and proceeded two leagues (five and one 
half miles) to a village on the eastern bank, the name 
of which proved to be Tangibaho. The village was 
depopulated and evidences of a recent battle were on 
every side. This is what Tonty says : " We found 
only corpses. The people had been defeated by Chou- 
choumas. Blood was ankle deep! Five great lodges 
were filled with dead bodies. The rest of the village 
had been destroyed by fire. This place was distant 
thirty leagues (sixty-seven and one half miles) from 
the sea." 

Following our river route, the voyageurs came in 
sight of the sea on April 6 (1682). "As the river 
here divides into three channels," writes Tonty (thus 
conclusively proving that the three-pronged mouth of 
the "Admiral's map" belonged to the Mississippi), 
" M. de La Salle undertook the exploration of the one 



64 The Mississippi 

to the right [the South-west pass of to-day], I took the 
central one, and the Sieur d' Autray (Jacques Bour- 
don) that to the left. We found all of them excellent, 
broad, and deep. When we had reassembled on the 
9th, M. de La Salle set up the arms of the King of 
France and a cross. A Te Deum was sung. After 
firing three salutes, and burying a lead tablet engraved 
with His Majesty's arms, M. de La Salle took posses- 
sion of the river in the name of the most exalted and 
glorious prince Louis the Great, King of France and 
of Navarre." 

The return voyage began on April 10th, and was 
enlivened by several pitched battles with the natives. 
The most serious affair occurred over a slave woman 
who had been presented to La Salle by the Arkansans 
on the downward voyage but belonged to the Quini- 
passas, near the mouth of the Mississippi. She was 
recognised and a night attack by her people was made 
on La Salle's camp. Considerable bloodshed resulted 
but the slave was not surrendered. The French were 
again well received by the Cordoas, but messengers 
from the Quinipassas ^ had preceded them : treachery 
was only prevented by La Salle's undaunted courage. 
Escape was made up-stream to the Taensas where sev- 
eral very happy days were passed. A neighbouring 
chief sent two bands of music (!), to the cadence of 
which the paddlers worked. The reception ceremony'' 
concluded with a prayer to the sun. May 3d saw them 

1 Any philological defence of the orthography of many of the 
obscure Indian names is impossible. The spelling differs in nearly 
all the Jesuit manuscripts, — in several instances, varying in the work 
of the same relator. Along the lower Mississippi, many Spanish 
names were retained by the French; along the upper river, French 
spelling has been followed. But, as stated, that is not uniform. — J. C. 



The French Explorations 65 

under way again. Desiring to hasten northward, La 
Salle preceded Tonty, but a few days later at a land- 
ing, a letter written by Jacques Cochois was seen fast- 
ened to a tree announcing La Salle's dangerous illness 
and summoning the surgeon of the expedition, Jean 
Michel. Tonty started immediately. La Salle was 
found at Fort Proud'homme, — named for the place at 
which the gun-smith had gone astray in the woods on 
the downward voyage, — dangerously ill. After remain- 
ing until June 4th, La Salle being no better, Tonty 
was ordered to proceed to the river of the Miamis taking 
three Frenchmen and one Indian. He parted with La 
Salle, as he supposed, for ever. Just north of the 
Ohio, the little party had a narrow escape from mas- 
sacre at a village of mixed tribes. A friendly native 
discovered the plot, and on June 27th Tonty arrived 
safely among the Illinois. The water in the Wisconsin 
being low, the party went afoot to Winnebago Lake, 
where Tonty bought a boat and returned by the usual 
Green Bay route to Mackinaw (July 22, 1682) . There, 
he received word of M. de La Salle's recovery, after 
forty days' sickness. The commandant arrived in per- 
son during the summer. He was anxious to go to 
France to report to the King (Louis XIV.) but being 
too weak from his illness, sent his despatches by Father 
Zenoble, who had accompanied him throughout the long 
voyage to the Gulf of Mexico. Tonty was sent by La 
Salle to build a fort for the protection of the Shawanoes, 
his devoted allies. La Salle joined Tonty on December 
30th and during that winter " Fort Saint Louis was 
built upon an impregnable rock." Peace was made 
between all the Illinois tribes except the Iroquois. 

Then it was that La Salle renewed his determina- 



66 The Mississippi 

tion to return to France. After La Salle had sailed, 
Tonty was harassed by envoys from Quebec and, 
throwing up his job, returned to the capital of New 
France in the autumn of 1684, to compose the 
" Relation " which we have briefly summarised. 

VII — LOUIS HENNEPIN 

Sparks, and other authorities on the missionaries, 
consigns Father Louis Hennepin " to that amiable 
class who seem to tell truth by accident and fiction by 
inclination." At most, all that can be claimed for 
Hennepin is that he was first to get into print an ac- 
count of any voyage on the Mississippi from the 
mouth of the Wisconsin northward to the Fall of St. 
Anthony. He is doubtless entitled to that great place 
in Mississippi history. All students of that period must 
remember that Hennepin was a Recollect priest and had 
not been well treated by the Jesuits at Quebec, Mon- 
treal, or Sault Ste. Marie, owing to the fact that he 
had striven to eclipse Allouez, Marquette, Dablon, and 
other Jesuits. 

The Hennepin narrative begins at Fort Crevecoeur, 
the well-known point on the Illinois about midway be- 
tween Lake Michigan and the Mississippi, on the 29th 
of February, 1680. It describes the Illinois as having 
the width and depth of the Seine, at Paris. The date 
on which the Mississippi was reached is not mentioned, 
but on March 12th, Hennepin describes the " Colbert." 
as he insisted upon calling the great river, " running 
south-south-west, between two chains of mountains which 
wind with the river, in some places far from the banks. Be- 
tween the river and the hills are large prairies, on which 



The French Explorations 67 

wild cattle are often seen browsing. This great river 
is almost everywhere a short league in width, and in 
some places two or three leagues." 

Hennepin gives the first graphic description of the 
Lake of Tears (Pepin), "about a hundred miles be- 
low the Fall of St. Anthony." This cataract he de- 
scribes thus: "It is forty or fifty feet high, divided 
in the middle by a rocky island of pyramidal form. I 
called the cataract St. Anthony of Padua, in gratitude 
for favours done to me by the Almighty, through the 
intercession of that great saint, whom we had chosen 
as patron and protector of all our enterprises." 

The Sioux believed, according to H. L. Gordon, 
an authority on Dakota traditions, that the Great Unk- 
te-hee, who created earth and man, originally dwelt in 
a cavern under the Fall of St. Anthony, and often ap- 
peared to mortals in the form of a buffalo-bull. In 
such form, like the ancient Egyptians at Memphis, they 
worshipped him. Recently, when standing in the Apis 
tomb at Sakkara, the vast campo-santo of Memj^his 
where the god-bulls were buried, I recalled this fea- 
ture of the Sioux religion. A very curious fact about 
the rock-hewn mausoleum at Sakkara is that one of 
the large, black granite sarcophagi, highly polished and 
inscribed, lies, with its lid, inside the entrance to the 
vast tomb. It never was put in place! Why was 
the work left uncompleted? Did a revolt against the 
deification of bulls, a protest against a disgusting re- 
ligious ceremonial, occur at that place, because the folly 
of worshipping a god that could die was proclaimed 
and conceded? 

Father Hennepin had much trouble with the na- 
tives. They were suspicious of his prayers and use of 



68 The Mississippi 

the rosary. Finally, he and his party were captured 
and Indian paddlers put into their canoe. " Five 
leagues below St. Anthony's fall," the Indians broke 
up Hennepin's canoe, and distributed the members of 
his party " as prisoners to three heads of families in 
place of three of their children killed in war." The 
unfortunate Frenchmen were made to swim streams 
filled with floating ice and subjected to many other 
hardships. A favourite trick was to set fire to grass 
in the path of the prisoners. 

In this part of the narrative, there is complete con- 
fusion of dates. Hennepin describes a sort of Turkish 
bath to which he was subjected as a remedy for a 
severe cold. He was cured, after several treatments. 
He speaks of " Indians who came as ambassadors from 
five hundred leagues to the West." He mentions a 
trip that the three Frenchmen made with a single In- 
dian to the mouth of the Wisconsin in the hope that 
*' the Sieur de La Salle had sent to that place a re- 
inforcement of men as he [La Salle] had promised." 
That trip to the Wisconsin, whether it occurred or not, 
is graphically described. What became of the Indian 
guard is not stated, but Hennepin and his other com- 
panions arrived at Mackinaw late that fall and wintered 
there. In the spring of 1681, the party returned to 
Quebec by way of the Detroit, Lakes Erie and Ontario, 
and the St. Lawrence. 

VIII LA SALLE's last VISIT 

Whatever may be said of La Salle, he assuredly 
possessed determination. Although his tales of travels 
in the New World were somewhat discredited, he 




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The French Explorations 69 

ascribed the disbelief to jealousy and secured funds 
enough to fit out a squadron of four ships in the winter 
of 1684 and sailed from La Rochelle. His own ship, 
Le Joli, encountered a storm in which she fared so 
badly that the four vessels put back to the port of 
departure for repairs. Again, they sailed, about the 
last of December, but ran into a storm and were sepa- 
rated. A Spanish cruiser captured the St. Francois, 
but the other three came to a rendezvous at Petit 
Goave, Santo Domingo. We shall follow the narra- 
tive of Cavelier, a brother of La Salle and, although 
a member of the Sulpitian order, not always trust- 
worthy. 

At the period in which the Rev. John Caveher's 
*' Narrative " begins, Europeans possessed only one 
lodgment on the Mississippi, namely Tonty's stock- 
ade. La Salle hoped to ascend the great river from 
the Gulf to that haven of safety. 

Father Cavelier 's first important statement is a 
distinct allegation that Captain Beaujeu, commander 
of La Salle's little squadron, deliberately caused the 
foremast of Le Joli, the flagship, to be sawed so that 
it went overboard in the first gale thereafter en- 
countered. This commander refused to proceed beyond 
L'Espirito Santo Bay (February 4, 1685). He sailed 
homeward from this port on the Gulf of Florida (Mex- 
ico) on March 14th, leaving La Salle with only one 
ship, LiU Belle. 

La Salle, undaunted, founded a village, and built 
a fort to protect himself from the Indians, who thought 
the newcomers Spaniards, instead of Frenchmen. He 
finally made peace, and the Indians guided him to the 
interior, where they showed to him a copper plate. 



70 The Mississippi 

dated 1588 and carrying the arms of Spain, fastened 
to a post. This proved that the Spaniards had preceded 
him. 

With thirty men, La Salle set out by land from 
his fort to the mouth of the Mississippi. Thej'' tramped 
two months and ten days- — the chronicler omits to state 
in what direction. At an Indian village, he learned 
that his party was only forty leagues from the sea. He 
was told of a river that probably was the Rio Bravo. 

Shortly after La Salle's return to his port at 
L'Espirito Santo (or St. Louis Bay, as he renamed 
it), his small frigate. La Belle, was wrecked. The 
disaster was due to the lack of sufficient sailors. All 
the men aboard, except eight, were lost. In this dire 
extremity. La Salle undertook to reach Canada. With 
Cavelier, three other Frenchmen, and two Shawnee In- 
dians, he started on April 13, 1685 [according to Le 
Clerq, the real date is 1686], to make his way north 
to the Illinois River, the route up which to Lake Su- 
perior he claimed to know. Nearly all the members of 
the party w^ere prostrated with fever, and at the end 
of forty days, they returned to Saint Louis Bay. 
Abandoning hope of reaching Canada, La Salle waited 
a year in expectation that his King would send a 
rescuing ship: but when the beginning of 1687 came, 
he determined upon a second attempt to ascend the 
Mississippi. He selected only twenty-eight of his most 
vigorous men, [Anastasius says 20: Joutel, 17], and 
started on January 6th. From that date to the 
16th of February, when the " Narrative " of Cave- 
lier abruptly ends, we have each daj^'s march set 
down. 

Not the slightest evidence exists that La Salle 



The French Explorations 71 

reached the banks of the Mississippi. On January 
17th, at an Indian village, they witnessed a bull fight, 
in which Indians on horseback armed with lances fought 
bulls exactly as the picadores of Spain do to-day. 
From that tribe, La Salle bought thirty horses for 
thirty knives, ten hatchets, and a few needles. 

La Salle died about this time, which accounts for 
the cessation of his brother's " Narrative." The 
latter returned to Canada and ultimately to France, 
but concealed the fate of La Salle for two 
years. 

There is a note of suspicion in every line of Cavelier. 
Whether La Salle was saint or imposter must always 
be in doubt, owing to the curious, irreconcilable record 
left by Cavelier. 

IX — ST. cosme's voyage 

The scene again shifts to the North-west. Francis 
Joliet de Montigny, born at Paris in 1661, had been 
ordained priest at Quebec in 1693. Accompanied by 
Fathers Davion and St. Cosme, he intended to found 
a mission of the Jesuit Seminary of Quebec on the 
Mississippi. He bore the appointment of Vicar Gen- 
eral of the Bishop of Quebec. This expedition was 
outfitted at lavish expense; but M. de Montigny re- 
turned from this trip disgruntled, gave up his post at 
Quebec, went to France, and refused to take furthei: 
interest in American missions. Exactly what occurred 
to sour him never will be known. He was sent to China, 
but returned to Paris and died, 1725. The " Narra- 
tives " of St. Cosme and Davion are equally valuable 
and interesting. 



72 The Mississippi 

The letter of J. F. Buisson St. Cosme, missionary 
priest, to the Bishop of Quebec is one of the most 
valuable of all documents concerning the opening of 
the upper Mississippi. To it, largely, we owe a proper 
appreciation of Henry de Tonty. As a lieutenant of 
La Salle, Tonty had directed affairs in Illinois with 
tact. He was one of the founders of Detroit. 

Montigny, Father St. Cosme, Father Davion, the 
Sieur de Vincennes, — here first mentioned and ap- 
parently a nephew of Louis Joliet, — and Tonty, the 
Neapolitan, left Mackinaw on September 15, 1698. The 
intrepid Tonty agreed to pilot the party to and down 
the Mississippi as far as the Arkansas. The expedi- 
tion followed the usual course into Lake Michigan, to 
Green Bay, at the head of which they found a Jesuit 
mission. The direct route thence to the great river was 
through Green Bay and down the Wisconsin; but the 
Foxes were hostile and this party was obliged to go 
by the Chikagu (Chicago) route. They coasted down 
the west side of Lake Michigan, arriving at the site of 
Milwaukee on October 7th. There, the Sieur de Vin- 
cennes parted with the missionaries, as he was going 
to the country of the Miamis. Arriving at the Jesuit 
mission near the present site of Chicago, Montigny, 
Davion, and St. Cosme were hospitably received. On 
the 24th, a start was made up the Chicago River. The 
route to the Mississippi followed that of the present 
drainage canal into the Illinois. Lowness of water in 
both rivers made the journey tedious. Of this trip, 
lasting about six weeks, owing to halts at various 
missions, Tonty was the hero. He proved himself dip- 
lomatist, as well as leader. The Italian had been among 
the Illinois three years before. Tonty's shibboleth 



The French Explorations 73 

always was, "We do not fear men!" — meaning that they 
only feared God. 

The Mississippi was sighted on the 5th of December. 
St. Cosme thus describes it at the mouth of the Illinois : 
" Micissippi is a large and beautiful river, that comes 
from the north. It divides into several channels, which 
form beautiful islands. It makes several bends but 
seems to me to keep always the same direction to the 
south as far as the Akanseas. It is lined by very fine 
forests." 

Embarking on the 6th, after making six leagues, 
the party came to the mouth of the Missouri. " It 
comes from the west and is so muddy that it spoils the 
waters of the Micissippi, which, down to that point, are 
clear." 

Upon a lofty headland, on the west bank, a cross 
was planted, to the singing of Vexilla Regis. They 
camped on the night of December 15, 1698, a short 
distance below the mouth of the Wabache.^ Nothing 
befell the party until they reached the Arkansas's mouth, 
except the discovery and description of the first peli- 
can, — " as large as a swan, its bill a foot long and the 
throat of such extraordinary size that it will hold a 
bushel of wheat." Christmas was celebrated with high 
mass; and an earthquake occurred at one o'clock in the 
afternoon. Even the earth was busy. 

A large Indian village was reached on St. John's 
day, where the calumet, or peace pipe, was smoked.^ 

1 The Ohio was called " Wabash " by the French from its mouth 
to the source of the present Wabash; the Ohio being the part from 
Fort Duquesne (Pittsburg) to the mouth of the Wabash. (See 
Gravier's Journal.) Shea, 69. 

2 Marquette had first described the calumet. Father Gravier also 
gives an account of this ceremonial. 3 Shea (St. Cosme's voyage, 73). 



74 The Mississippi 

Here they parted from Tonty, who had to return to 
the land of the IlKnois. St. Cosme thus speaks of him : 
" He is the man who knows the country best. He has 
been twice to the sea : he has been twice far inland to the 
remotest nations. He is loved and feared everywhere." 

This letter of Father Cosme to the Bishop of Quebec 
was accompanied by a brief missive from Sieur de Mon- 
tigny, detailing the establishment of Father Davion 
among the Tonicas on the Mississippi sixty leagues be- 
low the mouth of the Arkansas. He speaks of his own 
stay among the Taensas, first mentioned by Father 
Membre, and a projected visit to the Natchez. He de- 
scribes their " rather fine temples, the walls of which 
are of mats." Their religion " is serpent worship." 
In another place, he says " the serpent is one of their 
divinities." He adds: " They do not dare to accept or 
appropriate anything without taking it to the temple." 
Among the Taensas, the death of a popular chief was 
accompanied b}^ the killing of all the braves who volun- 
teered to go with him to the happy hunting grounds. 
" Last year," writes Montigny,^ " when the chief of the 
Taensas died, twelve persons offered to die. They were 
tomahawked." 

The same courier took a letter from the Rev. 
Dominic de la Source, also with the Montigny expedi- 
tion. It does not add any details. All these com- 
munications bear final date of January 2, 1699. 

X — IBERVILLE BANISHES ALL MYSTERIES 

Although La Salle had really established the con- 
necting links between the great river of Hernando de 

1 Shea, Early Voyages Up and Down the Mississippi, 78. 



The French Explorations 75 

Soto and the mighty stream far to the northward with 
which the names of Radisson, JoHet and Marquette, 
Hennepin and Tonty are associated, his statements and 
those of his chroniclers did not carry conviction. The 
honour of converting assumption into established fact 
remained for another Frenchman, Pierre Le Moyne 
d'lberville, seventeen years after La Salle's expedition 
of 1682. Sieur dTberville was born at Montreal, July 
16, 1661. He entered the French navy at the age of 
fourteen and saw active service in command of a frigate 
as early as 1692. He was sent to Hudson Bay in 1694 
and again in 1697. Going to France, he was com- 
missioned during the winter of 1698-99 to establish 
direct commercial relations with the lower Mississippi. 
Collecting all previous data, he made a thorough ex- 
amination of the coast line of the Gulf west of Florida. 
He it was who finally cleared up all doubts about the 
Mississippi emptying into the " Bay of Saint-Espirit," 
or Mobile Bay. This bay was the rendezvous of his 
vessels and he decided that neither of the two rivers 
entering it could be the one of which he was in search. 
He coasted westward until he found a haven that after- 
wards received the name of Biloxi. Acting on informa- 
tion obtained from the natives, Iberville left his ships 
at anchor and, on February 27th, set out with a party 
in small boats toward the west. He had been told that 
the large river which the Indians called the " Malban- 
chia," the same that the Spaniards described as the 
" River of the Palisades," lay fifteen or twenty leagues 
in that direction. He put into the mouth of the Mis- 
sissippi River on the night of March 2, 1699. Com- 
menting on the momentous importance of this event, 
B rower says: 



76 The Mississippi 

Up to this time, the Spaniards seem to have acted like 
dogs in the manger in respect to the lower Mississippi, and 
the shores of the Gulf of Mexico to the east and west. Al- 
though the entire coast line had long before been explored by 
their ships, no information concerning it had been directly 
published. They evidently knew about the embrochure of the 
river, for they called it " the River of the Palisades," on ac- 
count of the bristling appearance presented by the trees that 
had drifted from upstream and lodged at the outlets of the 
delta, where they helped to form bars. The Spaniards assured 
Iberville that, by reason of these bars, there was not any 
entrance. Fortunately, he did not believe them. 

Iberville and his brother, Bienville, made a thorough 
and systematic exploration of the lower part of the 
Mississippi. Exactly how far northward he penetrated 
is uncertain. The best opinion is that he ascended to the 
Red River. He could not reconcile many of the state- 
ments made by La Salle and his chroniclers with the 
topography as he found it; but when he received from 
an Indian chief a letter — " the speaking bark " he 
called it — that Tonty had left in 1685 to be delivered 
to La Salle, when he should ascend the river, Iberville 
knew that he had solved the greatest mystery of the 
New World. This first voyage of Iberville closes 
the story of French exploration on the lower two thirds 
of the Mississippi. Contemporaneously, Le Seuer, as 
we shall see, was seeking a blue clay in the Minnesota 
region, overlooking the fact that unless he found sap- 
phires and turquoises his merchandise would not admit 
of transportation to an eastern market. 

XI — LE SEUER AND BLUE MUD 

The first mention of Le Seuer, a Canadian and 



The French Explorations 77 

relative of Iberville, is as a coureur de hois at Chegoi- 
megon, on Lake Superior. His thorough acquaintance 
with the Dakota language gave high value to his 
services as mediator for the Quebec government between 
the Chippewas and Dakotas. 

Les coureurs des hois were of a class that made 
themselves popular by terrorism, — anticipating the cow- 
boys of the western plains. They were lawless, half 
traders, half explorers, wholly bent on divertisement, 
and not discouraged by misery or peril. They lived 
in utter disregard of all religious teaching, but the 
priesthood, among savages, were fain to wink at their 
immoralities because of their strong arms and efficient 
use of weapons of defence. Charlevoix says that 
" while the Indian did not become French, the French- 
man became savage." Not until Frontenac's day were 
these French vagabonds brought under control. Of 
such antecedents was Le Seuer. 

The account of Le Seuer's long voyage on the upper 
Mississippi in 1699-1700 is here summarised from Ber- 
nard de la Harpe's transcripts of Le Seuer's journals. 
He was sent out to Canada from France vdth the ships 
Menominee and Gironde to form " an establishment at 
the source " of the Mississippi. Reports of the exist- 
ence of a mine of green or blue earth, somewhere on 
the upper Mississippi, had reached France. As Shea 
very truly says, such a mine does n't seem an over- 
valuable thing to cross the ocean and half a continent 
to seek. By order of Frontenac, Governor General of 
Canada, Le Seuer, had, in 1695, built a fort on an island 
in the Mississippi " two hundred leagues above the 
mouth of the Illinois to maintain peace between the 
Sioux [See-ous] who dwelt in the Minnesota country 



^ 



78 The Mississippi 

and the Ojibwas (Chippewas or Sauteurs) of the 
Lake Superior region." It was then that he discovered 
the green or blue earth in Minnesota. He went to 
France in 1697 to sohclt a grant of the mines. Obtain- 
ing it, he embarked at La Rochelle in June of that 
year, but, off the Newfoundland banks, his vessel was 
taken by an English fleet of sixteen ships and he was 
carried prisoner to Portsmouth. Peace being declared, 
Le Seuer hurried to Paris to secure a new commission, 
— having thrown his former one overboard to prevent 
his identity being kno^\^l. A new cormnission was 
issued, bearing date of 1698. When he reached 
Canada, Frontenac turned against him and prevented 
him from proceeding to the INIississippi region. He 
returned again to France and arrived in the colony of 
Louisiana on December 7, 1699. He made a trip up 
the Mississippi and was gone about two years, reappear- 
ing at Fort Biloxi, near the mouth of the river, on 
February 10, 1702. The account of this long up-stream 
voyage and return is the most valuable of all early 
Mississippi chronicles, because it carries conviction re- 
garding its truthfulness, but it is not interesting read- 
ing, kept, as it is, in diary form. 

A letter from Le Seuer, dated Paris, 1701 [evi- 
dently this date is an error or has been tampered with], 
exists in which this trader denounces as an imposter 
one Mathieu Sagean, who had appeared in France with 
a wonderful tale of his explorations of the Mississippi 
far above the mouth of the Illinois River. His story 
was that he had been associated with La Salle and 
Tonty in the expedition of 1683 and had obtained per- 
mission of his chief to penetrate far toward the head- 
waters of the mighty river. But, as his narrative did 



The French Fxplorations 79 

not appear until after Hennepin had announced the 
discovery of the Fall of St. Anthony, Sagean's account 
of " a high fall, around which it was necessary to make 
a portage of six leagues " did not impress anybody. 
Sagean was an imposter of the Glazier type, and, as 
Brower says, " had he been other than an illiterate man, 
he would have written a book " — claiming everything 
set down by previous chroniclers. 

XII — PHILOLOGY OF MISSISSIPPI 

The Mississippi River has borne many names; dif- 
ferent parts of the long stream have carried titles of 
their own. Prior to Hernando de Soto's arrival, the 
aboriginal tribes along its banks had separate designa- 
tions for the river traversing their own possessions. The 
Cortes map gives to the river the name " Espiritu 
Sancto," which never was accurately applied to the lower 
Mississippi. A list of all known appellations, gathered 
by J. V. Brower, is as follows: 

Meche Sebe, the original Algonquin designation. 

Chucagua, an Indian name, noted by Soto's expedition. 

TamaliseUj an Indian name, noted by Soto's expedition. 

Tapatu, an Indian name, noted by Soto's expedition. 

Mico, an Indian name, noted by Soto's expedition. 

Rio Grande, a Spanish designation, noted by Soto's ex- 
pedition. 

" The River," a Spanish designation, noted by Soto's ex- 
pedition. 

Palisado, a Spanish designation, from floating trees seen 
near its mouth, giving the appearance of a palisade. 

Escondido, a Spanish designation ; hidden from sight by 
the innumerable passes, cut offs, bayous, etc., at and above its 
mouth, making it difficult to discover the main channel. 



8o The Mississippi 

St. Louis, a French designation. 

Conception, a French designation, by Marquette. 

Buade, so called by Joliet after the family name of Gov. 
Frontenac. 

Colbert, after Jean Baptiste Colbert, an eminent French 
statesman. 

Mischipi, Nicolas Freytas's visit to the Quivira tribes, 1661. 

Messipi, Father Allouez, in " Relation " of 1667. 

Meschasipi, Hennepin map of 1697. 

Michi Sepe, Labal's version. 

Misisipi, Labatt's version. 

Missisipi, Marquette's spelling. 

Mississipi, a later French version. 

Mississippi, the American spelling, adopted in tke nine- 
teenth century. 




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CHAPTER IV 

Jonathan Carver to William Morrison 

ALTHOUGH Jonathan Carver is the next visitor 
to the upper Mississippi region whose record is 
beyond dispute, much had been written in the 
meantime about the locality. From his dungeon in the 
Bastile, Antoine de la Mothe Cadillac, long stationed 
at Mackinaw and Detroit, wrote in his " Memoires " : 

As regards the source of the Mississippi, we can say that 
it is in 48° N. latitude and 96° W. longitude. It apparently 
has its origin in some lake, which forms another river, going 
to the north and discharging itself into the great lake of the 
Assiniboines, which forms rivers without end that empty them- 
selves towards Fort Nelson, and into other great bays. This 
lake is called by the savages " The Grandfather of All Lakes," 
meaning that it is incomparably greater than all others. 

An English traveller and astronomer, David 
Thompson, entered the service of the North-west Com-v 
pany in 1797 and in his capacity as a trader crossed the 
country lying between the western end of Lake Superior 
and the Manitoban region. He traversed the Messaba 
district, and had he been a geologist, as well as as- 
tronomer, might have discovered the richest deposits 
of iron ore on this continent. He first suggested a 
junction, at their sources, of the waters of the Red 
and the Mississippi rivers. He left the Mouse River, 
February 25, 1798, with a dog train. He passed up 
the Red River of the North to Red Lake River and 



82 The Mississippi 

arrived at Red Lake on April 17th. Turning south- 
ward, he came to Turtle Lake on the 27th. He de- 
clared that " Turtle Brook," which flowed to the 
southward from that lake, was the JNIississippi, and that 
Turtle Lake was the source of the great river. Thus 
it is seen that he anticipated Pike, Cass, and Beltrami 
hy many years. He was only guessing, as were they. 
Thompson descended Turtle River to Red Cedar Lake 
(Lake Cass) and thence passed by the main stream to 
Sandy Lake River, going to Lake Superior over the 
well-worn trail that marked the " carry " to the St. 
Louis River. His reports make the first mention of 
Lake " Winnipegoos," the largest body of open water 
in the Mississippi's path. He was unqualifiedly the 
first white man to traverse that part of the upper stream 
between Lake Cass and the mouth of Sandy Lake 
River. Curiously, he does not make mention of Poke- 
gama Fall, an obstruction that he could not possibly 
have overlooked. 

M. de La Verendrye very narrowly escaped associa- 
tion with the search for the sources of the Mississippi 
River. He was familiar with the route from Lake 
Superior to Lake Winnipeg, through the Lake of the 
Woods, and should have possessed a fairly accurate 
knowledge, by hearsay, of the region directly to the 
southM^ard of that well-travelled water route; but, in 
1737, he sent to Paris what purported to be a map of the 
country west and north of Superior in which Red Lake 
is set down as emptying into the Red River of the North 
and reaching Lake Winnipeg through the channel of 
the latter. Nothing could be more erroneous. Veren- 
drye coasted Lake Superior and passed to Winnipeg 
by the well-known route through Rainy Lake and Lake 



Jonathan Carver to William Morrison 83 

of the Woods. He ascended the Assiniboine and Sas- 
katchewan rivers to the Rocky Mountains. He was 
very near the sources of the Mississippi, if he went by 
Red Lake, as some versions of his narrative claim, but 
he never visited them oj saw any part of the stream. 
He seems to have possessed some acquaintance with 
Turtle River, flowing into Lake Cass, and thought 
to be the continuation of the Mississippi by Beltrami, 
Pike, Cass, and all predecessors of Schoolcraft. This 
is said without prejudice to William Morrison, who did 
not announce his visit to Lac la Biche in 1802 until 
January 16, 1856, when the narratives of Schoolcraft and 
Nicollet had been in print for more than twenty years. 

The claim of William Morrison, which has been 
conceded by J. V. Brower, the First Commissioner of 
the Itasca State Park and the highest authority upon 
Mississippi exploration in Minnesota, rests entirely 
upon a letter written by Mr. Morrison to a brother, 
dated from Berthier, January 16, 1856. Omitting only 
references to family matters, it runs as follows: 

My Dear Brother: — Your letter of the 26th ultimo has- 
come to hand. ... I note what you say concerning the source 
of the Mississippi. You wish to know who was the first per- 
son who went to its source. For the information of the His- 
torical Society, I will state to you all about what came to my 
knowledge, by which you will perceive that H. R. Schoolcraft 
is in error and that he was not the first person who made the 
discovery of the source of the Mississippi. 

I left the old Grand Portage, July, 1802, landed at Leech 
lake in September. In October, I went and wintered on 
one of the Crow Wing streams near its source. Our Indians 
were Pillagers; in 1803-4, I went and wintered at Lac La 
Folle. I left Leech lake, passed by Red Cedar lake, up river 
Lac Travers to the lake of that name, then up river La Biche 



84 The Mississippi 

or Elk river, to near Lac La Biche, when we made a portage 
to fall into Lac La Folle. Lac La Biche is near to Lac La 
Folle. Lac La Biche is the source of the Great River Missis- 
sippi, which I visited in 1804, and if the late Gen. Pike did 
not lay it down as such when he came to Leech lake it is be- 
cause he did not happen to meet me. I was at an outpost 
that winter. The late Gen. Pike laid down on his book Red 
Cedar lake as the head of the Mississippi river. I did not 
trace any vestige of white men before me. In 1811-12, I 
wintered again at Lac La Folle near to the plains. We went 
down river La Folle some distance. I then overtook a gentle- 
man with an outfit from Michilimackinac, Mr. Otepe, with 
whom I parted only at Fond du Lac. He took the south 
towards Mch'a and I north to our headquarters, which had 
been changed to Fort William north of the Grand Portage. 
This I expect will explain that I visited in 1804, Elk lake, and 
again in 1811-12. With respect to the first Fond du Lac 
traders, we all came from Mackinac. Some came by Lake 
Superior and others up by Prairie du Chien, up to Crow Wing 
and some went to Lac La Que de I'Outre — Otter Tail lake — 
Messrs. Reaume, Cotton, Casselais, Sayers, Letang and several 
others, some came by Lake Superior and others up the Missis- 
sippi by way of Prairie du Chien. These persons were per- 
sons who preceded us. The French had trading posts on Lake 
Superior, but not in the interior of F. D. L. that I could ever 
discover. The late Mr. Sayers returned from Mckina and 
found that his bands of Indians had died by the smallpox 
_1780— I think. 

Perhaps it is not amiss to mention that I went to the 
Indian country engaged to Sir Alexander McKenzie & Co., 
who had joined stock with the X. Y. Co., formerly the Richard- 
son & Co. . . . 

Your affectionate brother, 

William Morrison. 

Mr. Morrison was born in Canada in 1783, and died 
there August 7, 1866: records indicate that he became 
a naturahsed citizen of the United States. 



CHAPTER V 

The Louisiana Purchase 

THE purchase of the Louisiana Territory had 
stupendous results and largely made most of 
the history of the United States for the sixty 
years that followed the act. By thus securing this vast 
region from France, Jefferson not only doubled the 
existing area of our country but secured possession 
of the Mississippi River from its source to the sea. 
Napoleon comprehended the sacrifice France was mak- 
ing when he exclaimed, " I have given to England a 
maritime rival that, sooner or later, will humble her 
pride." The far-reaching effects of this event are well 
stated by John W. Foster in A Century of American 
Diplomacy (page 204) : 



It made the acquisition of Florida a necessity. It brought 
about the annexation of Texas, the Mexican War, the thirst 
for more slave territory to preserve the balance of power, the 
Civil War, and the abolition of slavery. It led to our Pacific 
coast possessions, the construction of the trans-continental 
lines of railway and our marvellous Rocky Mountain develop- 
ment, the demand for an Isthmus Canal, the purchase of 
Alaska, the annexation of Hawaii. It opened up to us the 
great field of commercial development beyond the Pacific in 
Japan, China, and the islands of the sea. It fixed our destiny 

85 



86 The Mississippi 

as a great world power, the effects of which we are to-day just 
beginning to realise. 

The history of the undefined region described as 
the Louisiana Territory is exceedingly complex and the 
ablest historians have never been able to disentangle 
truth from fiction concerning the early period. Re- 
ligion and love of gold had equal parts in opening 
and fixing the nationalities of nearly every section in 
the ^lississippi ValleJ^ Francis Parkman has told the 
wonderful story of what the black robe of the Jesuit 
did for the North-west and the delta of " The Father 
of Waters." La Salle was responsible for dedicating 
the whole region to France under the name of " Louisi- 
ana." His chief thought was to outrival Champlain 
on the St. Lawrence. He secured footing in the upper 
^lississippi region ahead of the English and by a chain 
of forts from New Orleans to Blue Earth, in Min- 
nesota, he planned to keep them out. La Salle did not 
live to carry out his dream, but the idea survived him. 
In 1699, the first settlement was established in Louisi- 
ana and in 1712, Antoine Crozat obtained a grant from 
Louis XIV. which defined its boundaries so amazingly 
that the country of Louisiana included the entire INIis- 
sissippi watershed from the Alleghanies to the Rocky 
Mountains. The text, taken from Martin's Louisiana, 
{{., 178), is as follows: 

The territory is bounded by New Mexico on the West; by 
the English lands of Carolina on the East, including all the 
establishments, posts, havens, and principally the port and 
haven of the Tsle of Danphin, heretofore called Massacre; the 
Eiver St. Louis, heretofore called Mississippi, from the edge 
of the sea as far (north) as the Illinois (country) ; together 
with the River St. Philip, heretofore called Missouri, the 



The Louisiana Purchase 87 

River St. Jerome heretofore called Oiiabache (Ohio), with 
all lakes and rivers mediately or immediately flowing into any 
part of the river Saint Louis or Mississippi. 

The northern boundary of this immeasurable tract 
of land was defined by the treaty of Utrecht (1713) to 
be the forty-ninth degree of north latitude. Crozat 
could not find any gold on his concession and surren- 
dered his charter to the Crown in 1717. 

" The Western Company," with which John Law 
was connected, took over the Crozat concession and, so 
characteristic of the " frenzied financier " as subse- 
quently revealed, claimed the whole of the Illinois 
country as having been included in the charter, but the 
question never was decided. 

According to a painstaking historian, John W.' 
Monette, who published two large volumes on this sub- 
ject in 1846, " The project of purchasing New Orleans 
and Eastern Louisiana was entertained from the 
beginning of Washington's administration." ^ Had 
New France and Louisiana grown together as La 
Salle dreamed, France would have become a dominant 
power in North America, from which Great Britain 
never could have dislodged her; but personal infatua- 
tion for the court life of Paris overcame ambition for 
dominant power in the New World. The effect of 
these influences upon the swaggering French royal- 
ists of Quebec is admirably described in a recent novel 
entitled Le Chien d'Or. New France passed into 
English hands (1763) ; Louisiana was neglected. In 
1717, as mentioned above, it had been handed over to 

1 Monette's History of the Discovery and Settlement of the Mis- 
sissippi Valley, vol. i., 503. 



88 The Mississippi 

John Law and was used by him as the pretext for the 
most high-handed financial scheming known to history 
until emulators in the United States outshone him dur- 
ing the unwatched period of do-nothing Presidents, 
extending from 1868 to 1901. 

While Louis XIV. lived, he was " The State," as 
he claimed, but he was a weak monarch and the kings 
that followed him were cursed with weaker advisers 
than he had possessed. In 1762, France ceded her 
possession to Spain and for nearly forty years the 
people of Louisiana led a semi-tropical existence, hardly 
conscious of the yoke they carried. " Under what king, 
Bezonian?" never was asked in the absinthe taverns of 
the Orleans in the New World. 

Her people hardly noticed " the shot heard around 
the world "; or, if they did, failed to realise its import 
to them. Doubtless, the American Revolution was of 
much less interest to the French of New Orleans than 
was the Revolution in Paris that hurried fast upon 
the conclusion of the former. The two great social 
upheavals of the eighteenth century were of minor in- 
terest to New Orleans at the time, but both vitally 
affected her destiny. 

Diplomacy recognised the importance of the trans- 
Mississippi region. Napoleon and Jefferson had a 
simultaneous thought. The effect of the French phi- 
losophers upon Jefferson's mind was apparent in every 
act of his public career. Voltaire, Diderot, and Rous- 
seau had taught that " the sovereignty of the State and 
the people were one, — liberty, equality, and fraternity 
of mankind." 

The young American Republic was a real thing.^ 

1 Those interested in the policy of France toward the Mississippi 



The Louisiana Purchase 89 

During the period between 1783 and 1793, Washing- 
ton shoe-buckles and FrankHn snuff-boxes were a fad 
of Paris. Out of the French Revolution rose Napo- 
leon, in many respects the greatest figure of all time. 
Neither Europe nor Africa confined his ambition or 
his thoughts; his eyes often turned toward America, 
the soil of which had been consecrated to France by 
La Salle and Montcalm. Napoleon brought sufficient 
pressure to bear upon the Spanish monarch to compel 
the retrocession of the Louisiana Territory to France 
in 1800. The exact date has been disputed. It was 
a secret treaty of necessity, because England could 
and would have seized New Orleans. The truth came 
out during a suspension of hostilities between France 
and England but any defence of the colony by Napo- 
leon being impossible, Louisiana was obviously in the 
market for sale. Almost contemporaneously with the 
general diffusion of the knowledge that France had 
regained her former possession, a high-handed act of 
inhibition against the traders of the Mississippi Valley 
was committed. These sturdy pioneers had enjoyed 
the right to send their goods to New Orleans, as " a 
place of deposit," whence they could be shipped to all 
parts of the world. It was a great market. The 
closing of it meant dickering with the fur-traders of 
the North-west and the Great Lakes, men who drove 
hard bargains and paid slowly. On the other hand, at 
the great port of New Orleans one part of the com- 
mercial world bid against the other. A crisis was 
inevitable. 



Valley during the administrations of Presidents Washington and 
Adams will find the subject elaborately treated by Frederick Jackson 
Turner, in The American Historical Review, January, 1905. 



90 The Mississippi 

President Jefferson was prompt to comprehend the 
importance of this arbitrary act to the j)ioneers who 
had won the lands they occupied inch by inch from the 
savages and beasts of the forests. Although not to be 
described as a pioneer himself, Jefferson, as Governor 
of Virginia, had aided in the formation of Kentucky. 
While Secretary of State, he had insisted upon the 
right of navigating the Mississippi and had tried to 
negotiate a treaty to that effect, vainly, until 1795; but 
when the French closed New Orleans as a place of de- 
posit of merchandise in 1802, Jefferson showed the 
energy of which he was capable. 

Robert R. Livingston, his Minister to France, was 
directed to make overtures to Napoleon. The latter 
had vast schemes of colonisation. The pioneers of the 
Ohio and upper Mississippi were in a threatening mood 
and wanted to descend the river to take forcible pos- 
session of New Orleans. Jefferson, wishing to avert 
war, which such a filibustering expedition would have 
forced, sent James Monroe, afterwards President of 
the United States, to France as Special Envoy. Events 
in Europe contributed to Jefferson's success. Monroe 
had hoped to secure all of Louisiana east of the 
Mississippi for $2,000,000 which Congress had ap- 
propriated. Instead, Napoleon made a counter pro- 
position. He offered the entire Louisiana Territory 
for 125,000,000 francs. This was finally reduced to 
80,000,000 francs, about $16,000,000, a fourth of which 
was to be paid to American citizens for claims against 
France. (Thus were founded the French Spoliation 
Claims, about which one hears to this day in the 
corridors and committee rooms of the Capitol at 
Washington. ) 



The Louisiana Purchase 91 

That treaty was signed April 30, 1803, and on De- 
cember 29th of that year, at noon, the French tri-colour 
was lowered from its pole facing the official residence 
in New Orleans and the Stars and Stripes of the 
Federal Union replaced it. 

The " Louisiana Purchase," including part of 
Texas, was in area twenty-six times larger than the 
State of New York. Since the acquisition of that 
territory the following States, " cut from the web of a 
splendid imperial property," have been admitted to the 
Federal Union: in 1812, Louisiana, 48,720 square 
miles; in 1821, Missouri, 69,415; in 1836, Arkansas, 
53,850; in 1845, Iowa, 56,025; in 1858, Minnesota, 
83,365; in 1861, Kansas, 82,080; in 1876, Colorado, 
103,925, — a portion of this State lying west of the 
Rocky Mountains was not included in the " Louisiana 
Purchase " but was secured by the " Guadalupe Hi- 
dalgo Treaty," which brought with it Utah, Arizona, 
etc.; however, fully 60,000 square miles of Colorado 
territory come from the " Purchase "; — in 1889, North 
and South Dakotas, aggregating 150,932 square miles; 
in the same year, Montana, 146,080; in 1890, Wyoming, 
97,890; in 1907, Oklahoma, and what is left of Indian 
Territory, equalling 55,000 square miles, — if what was 
ceded by Texas to the United States on December 13, 
1850, be omitted. The acquisition of the Yellowstone 
National Park, 3575 square miles, must not be over- 
looked as part of the " Purchase." Its area is chiefly 
in Wyoming, although a strip on its western side ex- 
tends across the Idaho border and to the northward 
into Montana. The natural features of that region 
are so marvellous that when John Colter returned to 
Saint Louis to tell about them, he was ridiculed and 



Y 



92 The Mississippi 

denounced. Henry M. Stanley had the same experi- 
ence after his return to England from the Livingstone 
expedition. 

There is no necessity to discuss the Oregon question 
in this connection: much pleasanter is it to feel that 
Oregon came to the Union by right of discovery by 
Captain Gray, of Boston, who entered the Columbia 
River in May, 1791, supported by the additional fact 
that John Jacob Astor established the first permanent 
trading post at Astoria. The land was not only 
discovered but actually settled bj^ Americans! 

The United States paid less than two cents for each 
hundred acres of land conveyed by France! 

It is usual to refer to the purchase of Manhattan 
Island for $24 by Peter Minuit, acting for the Dutch 
West India Company, as an outrageous bargain, driven 
by civilised men with untutored savages; but, by com- 
parison, the Indians of Manhattan were treated liber- 
ally. Jefferson's deal with Napoleon was the greatest 
real estate transaction ever made. Its consequences 
were disastrous to the Emperor, precipitating the war 
with England and her alHes that culminated at Water- 
loo. Under Napoleon, France, mounted and afoot, 
had faced the troops of all Europe; but that secret 
treaty with the American Republic, which only half a 
generation earlier had cast off the British yoke, threw 
England into a rage and cost Napoleon his crown. 



CHAPTER VI 

Lewis and Clark 

WHEN the purchase of the Louisiana Territory 
had been completed. President Jefferson be- 
gan to feel anxiety regarding the value of the 
acquisition. He had traded with Napoleon " sight un- 
seen," except the part embraced in the lower Mississippi 
Valley. The great North-west was literally an un- 
known land. The vastness of the new possession 
was not comprehensible. And right here, it may 
be said that one of the most marvellous exhibi- 
tions of our national development is the rapidity 
with which the primeval area has been opened to 
civilisation. 

In the third year of the nineteenth century. Captain 
Meriwether Lewis and Captain William Clark, with 
a party of thirty men, pitched camp on the west bank 
of the Mississippi where is the present site of Saint 
Louis and began building three flat-bottomed boats. 
They were preparing for an epoch-making voyage of 
exploration, nothing less arduous than the ascent of 
the Missouri River ! This trip, inadequately as it was 
outfitted, was the initiative of approximate knowledge 
of a territory exceeding five hundred thousand square 
miles in extent! 

Saint Louis, in 1803, was a small trading post and 

93 



94 The Mississippi 

its few white citizens were indifferent to the fortunes 
of the Lewis and Clark expedition; hut the young 
leaders were exactly the men for the undertaking. 
They were Virginians, experienced woodsmen, and had 
seen service against the Indians. Lewis was four years 
the younger but was pre-eminently the man to com- 
mand. He was twenty-nine and Clark thirty-three 
years of age. Lewis had been appointed Private 
Secretary to President Jefferson when the latter took 
office in 1801. Therefore, when on April 30, 1803, 
Jefferson's Special Commissioner, Monroe, and the 
regularly accredited Minister from the United States 
made the purchase from the French nation, the arduous 
task of examining and reporting upon the property 
was intrusted, to the President's Secretary and a com- 
panion of the latter's selection. Captain Clark. The 
President gave to the chief of this expedition elaborate 
instructions and the report of that three years' task, 
readily accessible in Washington, might serve as a model 
for all explorers since that time. Lewis was the scien- 
tific and Clark the military director. 

When the boats were completed and their stores 
aboard, the intrepid men pulled twenty miles up-stream 
to the mouth of the Missouri, but at this point, the 
actual beginning of their journey, they were stopped 
by a Spanish officer who commanded a fort at the junc- 
tion of the two rivers. It must be remembered that 
the western boundary of the United States was the 
Mississippi, and the Spanish flag floated over aU 
territory to the west of that river, from the British 
possessions on the north. 

France had ceded to Spain, November 13, 1762, 
"The country and colony of Louisiana and the posts 



Lewis and Clark 95 

thereon depending," thereby parting with her entire 
American dominions; but when Spain, on February 10, 
1763, ceded to England all of her American possessions 
east of the Mississippi except the town of New Orleans, 
the American Revolution was a foregone consequence. 
The result of that war so embarrassed England in the 
control of Florida that she retroceded it to Spain in 
1783 and the Spanish flag again waved from the east 
coast of Florida to the Pacific Ocean. By a secret 
treaty October 1, 1800, Spain transferred " the colony 
or province of Louisiana back to France, without re- 
strictions as to limits but with her ancient boundaries 
as they were when France, in 1762, had ceded the 
territory to Spain." 

Very probably that Spanish commander at the 
mouth of the Missouri River in the summer of 1803 
had not heard of the last two transfers, — trans- 
ferrals, namely, of Spain back to France and the sale 
by the latter to the United States. His name has ob- 
scure mention in the Lewis and Clark journal but he 
is lost to history. His arbitrary act, however, caused 
one year's delay in the setting out of the expedition. 
A messenger had to be sent to Washington for instruc- 
tions and Lewis and Clark went into winter quarters 
on the Illinois side to await his return. 

Having back of them all the power of the young 
republic and bearing official documents showing the de- 
tails of the transfer from France to the United States, 
Lewis and Clark started on their voyage up the Mis- 
souri River, May 4, 1804. There we leave them, as 
one might have said farewell to Jason and the good 
ship Argo, as she disappeared behind the Cyanian rocks 
at the entrance to the Bosphorus. The extent and 



96 The Mississippi 

wealth of the " Purchase " has been dealt with in a 
preceding chapter. 

Lewis and Clark occupied two years, four months, 
and nineteen days in their weary journey from the 
Mississippi River to Portland, Oregon, and back. To- 
day, luxurious trains traverse much the same route in 
either direction, in three days. A cargo of two thou- 
sand tons of tea from Yokohama arrived at Tacoma, 
on Puget Sound, recently. It was consigned to 
Chicago and New York. Ten freight trains were re- 
quired to move this cargo over the Northern Pacific 
Railroad, part of which route was traversed by Lewis 
and Clark. 

In little more than half a century after Lewis and 
Clark had pushed their explorations beyond the Mis- 
sissippi, the great West was won! This is in contrast 
to the rate of progress as told in all stories of his- 
toiy. Centuries elapsed during the advancement from 
Assyria to Egypt, Egypt to Greece, Greece to Rome, 
and the progress across the Alps to north-western 
Europe. The Trojan war gave to literature the 
Iliad, the Odyssey, and the ^neid; Cyrus's inva- 
sion of Asia Minor, the Anabasis; the conquest of 
Europe, after the fall of Rome, The Song of Ro- 
land, The Nibelungen Lied, Romance of the Rose, 
The Cid, Beowidf, — the hero of an Anglo-Saxon epic 
poem the scenes of which are laid in Denmark and 
Sweden (eighth century), — the Icelandic tales of Mag- 
nussen (1663), the Heimshringla, — the most import- 
ant prose work in old Norse literature (1178), written 
by the Icelander Snorri Sturluson, — Orlando Furioso, 
a metrical romance of forty cantos by the Italian poet 
Ariosto (1515), and Jerusalem Delivered by Tasso. 



Lewis and Clark 97 

Lewis and Clark gave to English literature Irving's 
Astoria and Captain Bonneville^ Parkman's Histories, 
Theodore Winthrop's John Brent, Bret Harte's Tales, 
Joaquin Miller's verses. That is what a peaceful jour- 
ney did for American literature. 



CHAPTER VII 
Zebulon M. Pike to Giacomo G. Beltrami 

LIEUTENANT ZEBULON M. PIKE was di- 
rected by the government to proceed up the 
Mississippi, — as Lewis and Clark had previously 
been ordered to explore the Missouri, — to its source. 
He set out from the present site of Saint Louis on 
August 9, 1805, at the head of twenty men in keel boats. 
After many hardships, the expedition went into winter 
camp on November 1st, on the west bank of the river 
at a point in what is now Morrison County, Minnesota. 
After erecting a blockhouse. Lieutenant Pike started 
on December 10th on a sledge journey. He camped 
on Christmas day a few miles above the present site of 
Brainerd. He reached the mouth of Pine River De- 
cember 31st and three days later discovered an Indian 
village over which a British flag was floating. A fire 
occurred in the camp of the expedition on the night of 
January 4th that destroyed the tents and an explosion 
of the ammunition was narrowly averted. Exhausted, 
the detachment reached Leech Lake February 1st, on 
snow-shoes, dragging their supplies on bark toboggans. 
In his report, I^ieutenant Pike commits himself thus: 
" I will not attempt to describe my feelings on the 
accomplishment of my voyage, for this is the main 
source of the Mississippi." When, on February 12th, 
he had reached Red Cedar Lake, now known as Lake 



Zebulon M. Pike to Giacomo C. Beltrami 99 

Cass, he added : " This lake may be called the upper 
source of the Mississippi River." The natives, seeing 
that Pike's party was not composed of French or Eng- 
lishmen, described his followers as " white Indians." 
After several pow-wows, at which the aborigines were 
made acquainted with the fact that a new and veiy 
different " Great Father " ruled over them. Pike be- 
gan his return march to the blockhouse, where he 
arrived in March, 1806. When the river opened 
in the spring, the party returned to Saint Louis, 
aften an absence of eight months and twenty-two 
days. 

Lieutenant Pike wrote his name large upon the early 
history of this country. He was only twenty-six years 
of age when he made the terrible mid-winter trip 
to Lake Cass. He was mortally wounded during the 
second war with Great Britain, while leading an Ameri" 
can attack upon York (now Toronto). He had then 
attained the rank of Brigadier-General, at the age of 
thirty-four years. As J. V. Brower is careful to point 
out. Pike's information was " entirely hearsay and he 
accepted the stories told him about the Turtle Lake 
source." He did not do any actual exploring ; the lakes 
and rivers were frozen, rendering such work impossible. 
That his trip was considered remarkable at the time is 
shown by the place accorded to it in contemporaneous 
literature. He was deceived, just as Beltrami was 
seventeen years later. 

General Lewis Cass was appointed Governor of the 
Territory of Michigan in October, 1813, and held the 
post for eighteen years. As ecc-officio Superintendent 
of Indian Affairs in his territory, he addressed a letter 
to John C. Calhoun, Secretaiy of War, on November 



loo The Mississippi 

18, 1819, proposing an exploring expedition through 
Lake Superior and to the sources of the Mississippi. 
Secretary Calhoun endorsed the suggestion and ordered 
the equipment of the expedition. The party set out 
from Detroit, May 24, 1820, accompanied by a detach- 
ment of troops. Here we first hear of Henry R. 
Schoolcraft, who went along as mineralogist. Capt. 
D. B. Douglas was attached as topographer and as- 
tronomer and a few Indian hunters were added. At the 
end of the forty-third day, over the route travelled by 
missionaries and coureurs de hois for a century and a 
half, Governor Cass arrived at the mouth of the St. 
Louis River, near the present site of Duluth. Sandy 
Lake trading post, on the Mississippi, was reached on 
July 15th. As J. V. Brower remarks, " Lieut. Pike 
had preceded Cass at this place by fourteen years 
and it is probable that Le Sueur had ascended the 
Mississippi as far as the mouth of Sandy Lake River." 
Leaving his principal force in camp at this point, Gov- 
ernor Cass proceeded with two canoes, bearing Mr. 
Schoolcraft, Major Forsyth, Captain Douglas, Dr. 
Wolcott, and Lieutenant Mackay, " to explore the 
sources of the Mississippi." 

Starting from Sandj^ Lake on July 17th, Red Cedar 
Lake was attained on the 21st. Mr. Schoolcraft at 
once renamed the body of water Cass Lake, in honour 
of the chief of the expedition, and so it is known to 
this day. From Chippewas, Cass learned that " the 
source of the river was JLac La Biche, about fifty miles 
west-north-west of Red Cedar Lake." Turtle River, a 
considerable stream, entered the lake from the north. 
Remarkable as it appears, nobody undertook to find the 
source of Turtle River or to circumnavigate the large, 



Zebulon M. Pike to Giacomo C. Beltrami loi 

shallow lake called after Governor Cass, for other in- 
lets. Had this been done, the entrance of the main 
stream, leading to the Hauteurs des Terres, would have 
been found by Cass in 1820. The weather was pro- 
pitious, the expedition was well equipped, but, like 
Pike, whose opportunities were limited by snow and 
ice, the untrustworthy statements of the natives were 
accepted as facts. 

Governor Cass began his return journey on July 
21, 1820, " after a stay of a few hours " at Cass Lake! 

Taking up their detachment at Sandy Lake, the 
party descended to St. Anthony Fall, traversed Lake 
Pepin to Prairie du Chien, then ascended the Wis- 
consin, portaged to the Fox River, and landed in Green 
Bay, as many had done before them. Governor Cass 
arrived at Detroit, September 15, 1820, having crossed 
the southern peninsula of Michigan in the saddle. His 
entire trip occupied one hundred and fifteen days. It 
gave to him international fame and largely contributed 
to obtain for him the nomination as Democratic candi- 
date for the Presidency of the United States twenty- 
eight years afterwards. Its fame endured more than 
a quarter century. 

The only real importance that attaches to the Cass 
expedition is that it pointed the way for Henry R. 
Schoolcraft, who, twelve years later, followed the same 
route, camped where the Cass party had camped, and 
imitated its movements in every respect except coming 
home without investigating the shore line of Cass Lake. 
The map resulting from the Cass expedition, which 
was drawn by Schoolcraft, is highly valuable, because 
it establishes the existence, although in a wrong direc- 
tion, of Lac La Biche, at a point independent of Turtle 



I02 



The Mississippi 



River. Of course it should have been south-west instead 
of north-west of Cass Lake. Here is the map: 

The next visitor of record to Lake Cass, Giacomo 
Constantino Beltrami, did not receive during his life- 




S^ttrees y Uc MissiS3if>hC. 



CcLQ^incx-. 



JfCcck ^ 




Z Jfy7i?feliec 




ej>. 



Vr^/a/li ^J*a/tefa / 



Section of a map showing the track pursued by the 

Expedition under Governor Cass in 1820 

Drawn by Henry R. Schoolcraft 

time proper recognition of his efforts to locate the 
source of the Mississippi. This was largely due to the 
jealousy of Major Long, U. S. A. No less an au- 



Zebulon M. Pike to Giacomo C. Beltrami 103 

thority than Jean N. Nicollet pleads the cause of Bel- 
trami, who was born at Bergamo, Italy, in 1779, his 
father being a customs official of the Venetian Republic. 
After a superior education, he entered the army but 
soon began the practice of law in the courts at Mace- 



J^aiyL L 




rAekcfesC ia«Z- ^^ , Ju.iL 



i¥ source ot/kjiMUsissnl 

Leech" 

Extract from Beltrami's Chart, 1828 

rata. We hear of him in Florence about 1812, where 
he gained powerful social alliances that secured to him 
the Presidency of the Court of Forli. He was ambi- 
tious and probably became enmeshed in some political 
intrigue, because he was banished in 1821. He came 
to America, imbued with a desire for exploration and 
discovery. He made his way to Saint Louis and thence 
to Fort Snelling. From this place, he addressed a 



I04 The Mississippi 

letter to his most influential social sponsor in Florence, 
Madame La Comtesse Compagnoni, born Passeri and 
popularly known as " Countess of Albany." This 
letter would not appear to have brought financial as- 
sistance in time to have aided him in accompanying 
Major Long, who had been commissioned to conduct 
an expedition up the Minnesota River and down the 
Red River of the North to Pembina. Beltrami said 
in his journal: "My first intention, that of going in 
search of the real sources of the Mississippi, was al- 
ways before my eyes." When Long and Beltrami 
quarrelled, the latter engaged two Chippewas and set 
out for Red Lake. He was soon deserted by his guides 
and he reached Red Lake alone, after many hardships. 
Securing a guide and interpreter, Beltrami left Red 
Lake, August 26, 1823, and two days later reached a 
place that he described as " the highest land of North 
America." There he found a deep lake, which he 
named " Julia " after his patroness. He did not stop 
at that, but without investigating whether or not the 
lake had an outlet, announced it " the Julian source of 
the Mississippi"! As Pike and Cass had done, he 
accepted statements of the savages. One very singular 
thing about Beltrami's journal is that he distinctly says 
" this Julia Lake is formed in the shape of a heart, and 
it may be truly said to speak of the very soul." Such 
is the form of Itasca! It must also be admitted, in 
Beltrami's behalf, that his guide described to him Lac 
La Biclie and he charted it as "Doe Lake, West source 
of the Mississippi." Three quarters of a century's dis- 
cussion followed the claims of Beltrami. His chart is 
worthy of a place in all volumes dealing with this sub- 
ject. Its similarities to that of Lieutenant Pike will 



Zebulon M. Pike to Giacomo C. Beltrami 105 

be observed. Here is a portion of his map of the re- 
gion north-west of Lake Superior, setting forth his 
claims. 

Beltrami descended Turtle River to Lake Cass, as 
Thompson had done, twenty-six years earlier, and ul- 
timately made his way down the Mississippi to New 
Orleans. There he pubHshed, in 1824, La Decouverte 
des Sources du Mississiiipi. From New Orleans, he 
went to Mexico, and claimed to have crossed the pen- 
insula to the Pacific coast before he returned to London 
in 1827. In that city, his Pilgrimage in Europe 
and America appeared in two volumes, from which 
Chateaubriand and other French writers drew copi- 
ously. In the museum of his native city, Bergamo, 
Beltrami deposited the trophies of his explorations in 
northern Minnesota and there they may be seen to this 
day. A county in Minnesota has been named in his 
honour. 



CHAPTER VIII 

The Schoolcraft Expedition 

HENRY R. SCHOOLCRAFT organised his 
own expedition to Cass, or Red Cedar, Lake at 
St. Mary's, on Lake Superior, in the spring of 
1832. It was not intended, primarily, for exploration, 
but to effect a settlement of existing hostilities between 
the Sioux (See-oo) and Chippewas. Lieutenant Allen, 
U. S. A., with a battalion of infantry, accompanied 
Superintendent of Indian Affairs Schoolcraft; Dr. 
Douglas Houghton went along as botanist and Rev. 
W. T. Boutwell was a guest. George Johnstone acted 
as interpreter. There were thirty men, in all. It was 
the year of the Black Hawk War. 

As the pretext for the Schoolcraft expedition never 
was made plain in the reports of Mr. Schoolcraft him- 
self or of Lieutenant Allen, I wrote to Rev. W. T. 
Boutwell, in June of 1880, asking him to tell me what 
he knew about the matter. His generous response, 
made at the sacrifice of much effort, deserves to be 
given in full as final words from the last survivor of 
a historic episode. It bears date of June 23, 1880, and 
is as follows: 

Nothing but the infirmities of age (seventy-seven) has pre- 
vented an earlier reply. You ask for incidents in relation to 
Mr. Schoolcraft's expedition to Itasca in 1832. To explain 
the purpose of the trip, it is necessary to go back as far as 

io6 



The Schoolcraft Expedition 107 

1805, when Lieutenant Pike made his expedition under direc- 
tion of our Government and, at that early day, reached Leech 
Lake and pronounced it the source of the Mississippi. He 
found the country occupied by British [traders] and under 
English influence. The Indian chiefs were flaunting English 
flags and displaying English medals. A brief extract from 
a letter, addressed to Hugh McGillis, one of the traders, will 
explain the cause of his (Pike's) expedition: "You will give 
immediate instructions to all posts in the territory under your 
direction that at no times or on no pretence whatever are 
they to hoist, or suffer to be hoisted, the English flag. That, 
on no occasion, will you present a flag or a medal to an In- 
dian, or hold counsel with any of them on political subjects." 

Nearly thirty years later (1831), when I came to this 
country, the old English traders had given place to a new 
class of men. Most of them were Americans, such as Lyman 
M. Warren, Charles H. Oaks, John Fairbanks, Allen Morri- 
son, and W. Holiday. The Am. F. Co.'s depot was at Macki- 
naw, in charge of Robert Stuart. Ex-Governor Sibley was at 
that time a clerk in the Company's office. 

Personal influence has a long life, — as some say, it never 
dies. Although many of the early English traders had long 
since died, their influence had become enduring by presents 
of ammunition, goods, flags, tobacco, and medals from the 
then traders at all the frontier posts. The chiefs and braves 
visited these posts every summer and there received large 
presents. To counteract this influence was one of the objects 
contemplated by the United States Government in despatching 
Mr. Schoolcraft upon his mission to Cass Lake. The chief of 
every band of any note that we visited displayed the English 
flag and English medals; but they promptly exchanged them 
for United States flags and medals when Mr. Schoolcraft made 
such proposition to them. Each band received a present of 
Indian goods, ammunition, and tobacco; they were civil and 
respectful in their responses to Mr. Schoolcraft, who coun- 
selled them to abandon the war path and to be at peace with 
their old enemies, the Sioux, until we reached Leech Lake. 
Flat-Mouth's band, at that place, numbered seven hundred, 
besides a band of three hundred on [word undecipherable] 



io8 The Mississippi 

island. Mr. Schoolcraft made to them a large and valuable 
present of powder, shot, ball, Indian goods, medals, and flags 
in exchange for English flags and medals. After Mr. School- 
craft had addressed the Indians, as he had done on other 
occasions, old Flat-Mouth rose and replied : " I suppose our 
Father will be displeased if I do not speak. We are very 
poor, and when we heard you were coming to visit your child- 
ren we were in hopes you would pity us and bring us some- 
thing to make our hearts glad." Pointing to a pile of the 
richest Indian goods embraced in Mr. Schoolcraft's gifts and 
amounting in value to several hundred dollars, he continued: 
" The ' Big Hats,' " — by which he meant to designate the 
English, — " are more generous to us than that ! I would have 
been on my way to visit them had I not heard you were 
coming. You tell us to abandon the war path! You would 
have us sit still while our enemies kill our young men? The 
words of ' the Long-Knives,' " — meaning the Americans — 
" have been like the wind that shakes the trees for a moment 
and is gone. You promised us that if we sat still and our 
enemies came and killed our children you would punish them; 
but you have not kept your promises and have restrained us 
from punishing our enemies." 

During this address, Flat-Mouth had held his blanket about 
his body with one hand, but at its conclusion, he allowed the 
blanket to fall from his shoulders to his feet and stood before 
us naked, except a breech cloth. Addressing Mr. Schoolcraft, 
the chief continued : " I will not hide the truth from you, 
Father. We have just returned from war, in which we were 
successful against our old enemy. I tell you, further, that 
if my people go on the war path and I do not lead I will 
not be slow to follow." Every member of the speaker's band 
grunted approbation. Here we saw the true feelings of all 
the border bands. They were more warmly attached to their 
long-while English friends than to the Americans. 

The Schoolcraft expedition reached the Mississippi 
from Lake Superior by ascending the St. Louis 
River and portaging into Sandy Lake River, thence 



The Schoolcraft Expedition 109 

descending it to Libby's trading post, at its mouth, — 
where the main stream was three hundred and thirty 
feet wide, according to Lieutenant Allen's measure- 
ment. Turning northward, the party ascended the big 
river through the Thundering Rapids, — now called 
Grand Rapids, — to Pokegama Fall; thence through 
the Great Savannah, crossed Lake Winnebagoshish, and 
entered Lake Cass, the ultimate point of previous offi- 
cial exploration. Camp was made on Grand Island. 

In the first week of July, 1832, Schoolcraft started 
across Cass Lake to the westward to find the entrance 
of a large stream that Yellow Head, the principal chief 
of the lake tribe, assured him was the continuation of 
the Mississippi. His party consisted of five small 
canoes, carrying three men each, with stores for the 
voyage. The remainder of the party was left in camp 
on Grand Island. 

From the western end of Cass Lake, the ascent of 
the river was resumed. Forty miles of paddling 
brought Schoolcraft to the pretty lake that has nearly 
retained its Chippewa name, Pa-mid-ji-gum-aug, or 
Cross-water Lake. The Mississippi merely flows 
through the southern end of Pemidji Lake, which is 
very nearly cut in two by sharp promontories that 
approach from the east and west. Schoolcraft named 
the southern part of this lake after Washington Irving, 
but the name has not been retained. 

After leaving Lake Pemidji, the course up-stream 
soon became almost due south. Five miles farther, the 
ultimate forks of the river were encountered, the west- 
ern branch being the larger. The guide recommended 
the eastern branch as easier of ascent. Schoolcraft 
named it " Plantagenet." It expanded in two places 



no The Mississippi 

into small lakes, which were called Marquette and La 
Salle, in the order of their discovery. Late in the day, 
a larger lake, with a fine evergreen forest upon its 
southern side, was entered. The following day, rapids 
and falls were met. A portage was made over a ridge, 
through a region of Alpine plants. Small pines, of 
the grey species, cedar, and spruce were abundant, and 
the borders of the river were overhung with grey wil- 
lows. A lake formed the ultimate reservoir of this 
branch of the river, and from this lake a crossing was 
to be made to the headwaters of the western or main 
branch of the Mississippi. 

This portage of six miles was made with several 
rests. Reaching the brow of a ridge, the bright gleams 
of sunshine upon a lake burst into view. It was the 
goal of the explorer's hopes! The five canoes were 
soon in the water and the party embarked. We now 
quote Schoolcraft's description: 

This was the 13th of July, 1832, being three hundred and 
five years after the discovery of the mouth of the Mississippi 
by Narvaez, and two hundred and nineteen years after the 
actual discovery of its interior channel by Hernando de Soto. 
It was a calm and bright day. Itasca Lake, as we named it, 
is about five miles long.i We found the outlet quite a river, 
with a swift current. We were two days and nights in its 
descent [i. e., to Cass Lake]. There is a cascade, a few miles 
below the lake (Itasca) called Ka-bi-ka, which we ran. We 
found this stream the larger branch, and about one-third longer 
than the Plantagenet fork. 

The most cursory examination of Mr. Schoolcraft's 

1 Commissioner J. V. Brower fixes the geographical position of 
Schoolcraft Island, north latitude 47° 13' 10", longitude west from 
G., 950 12'. 




Recent View at Southeastern Extremity of Itasca, Showing 

the Point across the Lake at which Schoolcraft 

Reached it, in 18:i2. 



The Schoolcraft Expedition 



III 



map, as found in his report, shows that he did not 
enter the west arm of Itasca Lake. As a " sketch 
map " it is about as inaccurate as a map could be made. 
In the drawing, B indicates the point of entrance to 
the lake, C the island upon which the party stopped, 
and A the outlet of the lake. 

The truth about the naming of Schoolcraft's lake 
was brought out in 1872, as a direct result of a visit 




Schoolcraft's map of Itasca Lake, 1832 

to the region made by the writer of this volume. In 
a letter to the New York Herald the statement was 
publicly made by him that Schoolcraft had coined the 
name I-tas-ca from two Latin nouns, supplied by the 
Rev. W. T. Boutwell, — " Veritas caput," — by eliminat- 
ing the first three letters of the first word and the last 
syllable of the second word. It became a matter of 
discussion in various parts of the country. Eight years 
later, the author of this book wrote to the Rev. Boutwell 
and received the following reply: 

Dear Mr. Chambers: As you say, it was in 1872 that in- 
quiry was raised regarding the origin of the word " Itasca." 



rat/^c ?se 



L O'Ke Pian i^ato e n et" 




-^ 






V^ 



■^^s 



Sources of the Mississippi River. Drawn to illustrate 
Schoolcraft's journey to Itasca Lake, 1832 



The Schoolcraft Expedition 113 

The Secretary of the Minnesota Historical Society, knowing 
I had accompanied the Schoolcraft expedition, addressed a 
note to me with the request that if I had any knowledge re- 
garding the origin of the name I would favour him with a 
reply. I gave to him the time, place, and circumstances under 
which I first heard the word uttered by Mr. Schoolcraft. Here 
are the facts: 

As we were coasting along the south shore of Lake Superior 
one beautiful morning, the lake as calm and smooth as a 
mirror, Mr. Schoolcraft turned to me with this question : 
" Mr. Boutwell, can you give to me a word in Greek or Latin 
that will express 'true head' or 'source'?" 

After a moment's reflection, I replied, " I cannot ; but I 
can give you two words." I gave to him " Veritas caput." He 
wrote out the two words and, shortly after, turning to me, 
said, with animation: 

" I have it ! " Then and there, I first heard the word 
" I-tas-ca." 

With much esteem, yours, 

W. T. Boutwell. 

Stillwater, July 27, 1880. 

Of course, Mr. Boutwell should have given to 
Schoolcraft the words " ve-rum ca-put," the adjective 
agreeing with the gender of the noun. From those 
words, the name " Rum-ca " might have been framed: 
it would have had a " true " Chippewa ring, albeit 
suggestive of " fire-water." ^ 

1 In the entire range of history, sacred and profane, only one 
episode exists as curious and interesting as this one. It is said a 
Jewish maiden, pitying the sufferings of the Saviour staggering under 
the weight of His cross on the road to Calvary, handed to Him her 
handkerchief. Jesus wiped His brow, returned the dainty linen to 
its owner, and pursued His painful journey. A perfect likeness of 
the Christ was upon the handkerchief! The precious article was 
called vera iconica (true likeness), and that gentle Jewess has been 
known ever since that dreadful day as Sainte Veronica (Ver-a ic- 
onica). One of these handkerchiefs is preserved in St. Peter's, 
Rome; another is shown at Milan. — J. C. 

8 



114 The Mississippi 

Dr. Douglas Houghton, who accompanied the 
Schoolcraft expedition, kept a journal of the trip which 
was not published until 1882, when it appeared in the 
Detroit Post and Tribune. It explains several obscure 
points in the narratives of Schoolcraft and Allen. 
Most startling is its disclosure of the fact that the party 
was at Itasca only three and one half hours of one 
afternoon. Having described the voyage to Lake Cass, 
where the party arrived on July 10, 1832, the Houghton 
narrative continues: 

Our party was reorganised for a further prosecution of the 
exploration. Indians and voyageurs declared that the Mis- 
sissippi had its origin in a lake called La BicJie, sixty miles 
in a north-westerly direction : actually nothing was known of 
the situation above Cass Lake. Lieut. J. Allen announced 
that he could not prevail upon his men to accompany us 
farther. Our party, as reorganised, numbered sixteen men : H. 
R. Schoolcraft, Lieut. Allen, Rev. W. T. Boutwell, George 
Johnson, myself, and eleven voyageurs and natives. 

At five o'clock a.m. (Wednesday, July 11th), Schoolcraft, 
Allen, Boutwell, Johnson [s?c], and myself embarked. Each 
of us occupied a separate canoe, paddled by one voyageur and 
one Chippewa. We ascended the river beyond Lake Cass to 
a body of water called by the voyageurs Lac Travers. Pro- 
ceeding, we passed a series of small lakes and encamped at a 
point of woods. 

July 12th, Thursday, we embarked at 5 a.m., and continued 
to ascend the stream until 4 p.m., when the guides advised a 
portage, owning to the tortuous character of the river. [This 
is the Eastern, or Plantagenet, branch of the Mississippi, be it 
remembered. — J. C] We portaged two miles across country, 
soil of diluvial character, containing boulders of trap rock, 
syenite, and quartz. The course of the stream had been south- 
erly. We camped on again reaching the insignificant creek. 

July 13th, Friday. — The sun had scarcely arisen when we 
embarked and ascended the winding brook at which we had 



The Schoolcraft Expedition 115 

encamped the evening before, for twelve or fifteen miles, when 
we arrived at an expansion of water one or two miles in 
length, called by the guides Ossowa Lake. Its waters were 
blackish and bordered with aquatic plants. This lake receives 
two small brooks, and may be regarded as the source of this 
branch of the Mississippi. The head of this lake is one hund- 
red and twenty miles from the forks. The chief, Yellow Head, 
pushed his canoe through the weeds of the shore and soon an- 
nounced his discovery of the portage which would lead to Lac 
La Biche of the French. Having reached the source of this 
branch of the great river, it may be noted that its existence 
as a separate fork of the Mississippi has been hitherto unknown 
in our maps. Immediately after landing we followed the por- 
tage in a westerly direction, wading for some distance before 
the soil became firm. The course led through a tamarack 
swamp for about two miles. Thirteen rests were deemed the 
length of the portage. Having passed over, or rather through, 
the marshes, we arrived at a series of sandy ridges, supporting 
a growth of grey pine covered with lichen. These ridges 
separate the headwaters of the Mississippi and its tributaries 
from those of Red River. Having passed over these ridges 
near four miles, making in all six miles of portage, we arrived 
at Lake Itasca, near its head. This lake is considered the 
true source of the Mississippi, and our party was the first 
which had ever reached it. The lake is small and irregular, 
having many bays proportionately deep. It is eight miles in 
length, and has an average width of three fourths of a mile. 
The shore rises gradually to a considerable height from the 
water, but the soil is of the same barren, sandy kind already 
mentioned. The principal timber is grey and yellow pine and 
aspen. Near the foot of the lake is a small island, upon which 
we landed, and Mr. Schoolcraft ordered the American flag to 
be hoisted, and it was so secured as to remain a long time. 
This was the first flag ever hoisted at the head of the Mis- 
sissippi River. 

We arrived at the lahe at aT)Out one o'clock p.m., and hav- 
ing coasted through it and made some examinations, our sole 
object of visiting the Mississippi was accomplished, and, at 



J 



ii6 The Mississippi 

li.SO, ice commenced dcscciKlinc/ the outlet of the lake, which 
ivas a mere hrook, about ten feet in width. 

A final word about Beltrami. INIr. Schoolcraft and 
Lieutenant Allen have only words of sarcasm and dis- 
respect for the adventurous Italian. One is puzzled, 
after comparing their reports, to account for their 
bitterness except upon the meanest of motives, — 
jealousy at finding their work anticipated. In Bel- 
trami's narrative,^ published ten years before Allen's 
report,^ he fixes " the source of the great river in Lake 
Moscos-Saguaiguen." O-mush-kos Saw-gaw-see-gum 
is clearly the same lake; and, if they are not the same 
words, the French name, which Beltrami gives, would 
settle the identity of the lake. Beltrami adds, " It is 
also known as Lac La Biche, the first one above Lac 
Tr avers" (Pemidji Lake).^ Beltrami further antici- 
pates both of his critics, because he states that " the 
large river flowing into Lac de la Cedre Rouge [Cass] 
on the west is the continuation of the Mississippi." He 
says it is called Demizimaguamaguen-sibi and leads 
directly into Lac Travers. Much additional philo- 
logical proof might be given to strengthen Beltrami's 
position and to identify the main stream as located by 
him. 

Again, Beltrami does not claim (as Allen alleges) 
Tortoise, or Turtle, Lake as the " true source of the 
Mississippi," but only describes it and its feeders as 
" the Julian sources." Yet, on the map attached to 

1 Beltrami's Pilgrimage in Europe and America, 2 vols. London, 
1823. 

- Executive Reports, 1st Session, 23d Congress. (1833.) Vol. ii., 
page 323. 

3 Beltrami's Pilgrimage, vol. ii., page 434. 




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The Schoolcraft Expedition 117 

Lieutenant Allen's report to the President of the United 
States, a mark of disrespect for Beltrami's work is 
placed by affixing to that locality the words, " False 
source of the Mississippi." Schoolcraft and Allen 
subsequently quarrelled; but at the time of their jour- 
ney they appear to have agreed that they possessed 
letters patent to everything associated with the upper 
Mississippi. They write as though the river belonged 
to them ; men who had shown them the route are warned 
off. This feeling accounts for the perpetration of 
*' ver I-tas ca-put," and nothing else does. Mr. Bout- 
well's letter narrates the circumstances under which the 
word was coined: but I frankl}'^ admit not to have un- 
derstood Mr. Schoolcraft's motive for insisting upon 
stamping " true source " upon Itasca Lake until I 
examined Lieutenant Allen's map. 

Recurring to the various theories and explanations 
that had been put forth in former years, to account for 
the selection of the name " Itasca," I may say that 
after the Boutwell announcement was made by the 
Minnesota Historical Society, considerable merriment 
was created over a letter that had appeared in a Saint 
Paul newspaper in May, 1872, addressed to A. J. Hill, 
of Saint Paul, by Mary H. Eastman, of Washington, 
D. C, in which she had repeated a remarkable legend 
that had appeared in her collection of Indian Folk-lore, 
known as Eastman's Aboriginal Portfolio. Here is 
the lady's story, as taken from her letter: 

Itasca was the daughter of Manabazho, Spirit God of the 
Chippewas. I have printed, in my Aboriginal Portfolio an 
account of the exciting scene of the discovery of the Missis- 
sippi, and the tradition of Itasca, after whom Mr. Schoolcraft 
named the lake. The Chippewa guide gave the tradition to 



ii8 The Mississippi 

Mr. Schoolcraft who gave it to me. It is a lovely little tradi- 
tion, and reminds one of Ceres and Proserpine. 

Itasca was beloved by Chebiabo, keeper of the souls of the 
dead, and was about to be torn from her family and borne 
to his gloomy abode, she having refused to go with him. The 
storm spirits interfered in her behalf, but too late to save 
her. In the confusion of the struggle in which the gods took 
part, Itasca was buried under hills of sand, forming a mound 
that the Chippewa guide showed to Mr. Schoolcraft as her 
grave. The rills that flow from the rocks and sand, forming 
the lake, are made by the tears of Itasca weeping for ever 
for home and friends, — the sorrow produced by the revenge 
of this terrible (Pluto) Chebiabo. The name and tradition 
of Itasca are as reliable as any other. It is a subject for a 
grand poem. 

What can be thought of the statement that Mr. 
Schoolcraft is responsible for this yarn? 



CHAPTER IX 

The Jean N. Nicollet Expedition 

THE first real investigation of the sources of the 
Mississippi was made by a Frenchman, Jean 
Nicolas Nicollet, who came to the United States 
in the same year that Schoolcraft visited and named the 
Itasca region. He was born at Cluses, not far from 
Geneva, in Savoie, in 1790. His parents were poor; 
he learned the watchmaker's trade and pursued the 
study of mathematics. He went to Paris, was admitted 
to the first class of L'Ecole Normale, and soon received 
an appointment as Professor of Mathematics in the 
College of Louis le Grand. He became distinguished 
as an astronomer, — having discovered two comets, for 
which he received the decoration of the Legion of 
Honour. 

Nicollet arrived in New Orleans, according to the 
most credible authorities, in 1832, where he was assisted 
by Bishop Chance of Natchez. He communicated to 
the War Department his wish to engage in a voyage 
of exploration on the upper Mississippi. He set out 
from New Orleans on a tour to the north in 1835. At 
Saint Louis, he made the acquaintance of P. Chouteau, 
Jr., a successful merchant, who furnished him with 
means to prosecute his journey. Henry H. Sibley, 
who met Nicollet at Fort Snelling, asserts that the 
Frenchman's visit to Itasca occurred during the 

119 



I20 The Mississippi 

summer of 1835, instead of 1836, as claimed by 
the traveller himself/ 

Nicollet arrived in Washington after his exploration 
of Itasca in 1838, published his reports, and was sent 
on a mission to chart the vast region between the Mis- 
souri and Mississippi. The career of John C. Fremont 
may be said to have begun with that expedition, he 
having been assigned thereto by the Secretary of War. 
Nicollet ascended the Missouri, much as Lewis and 
Clark had done, and returned by way of the Minnesota 
River, opening a new country to civilisation. He died, 
full of honours but poor in purse, at Washington on 
September 18, 1844. 

J. V. Brower summarises Nicollet's preliminary re- 
port in such masterly fashion that he brings out its best 
features. This summary is given without comment on 
the discrepancies between Nicollet's measurements and 
those of Schoolcraft^: 

The Itasca region is covered with American larch and white 
cedars. The hills to the east of Itasca rise one hundred and 
twenty feet above the water. No sign of the flag set up on 
Schoolcraft Island. So, this is Itasca Lake, — it may be lik- 

1 See Minnesota Historical Collections, vol. i., p. 188. It is a curi- 
ous and highly interesting coincidence that M. Nicollet should have 
had the same Christian name as his distinguished predecessor in 
Northern exploration, Jean Nicolet, who is mentioned in the " Rela- 
tions " of the Jesuit Fathers as arriving in Canada in 1618, and, after 
spending a season at Nipissing Lake, was sent by the Company of 
New France to Les Gens de Mer, or People of the Sea (the Win- 
nebagoes) , to negotiate a peace between them and the Hurons. The 
Nicollet of 1836, who had appreciative words for everybody that had 
preceded him, was savagely attacked and a contemporary critic as- 
serted that his baptismal name was Joseph. It was probably a mean, 
unjustified assertion. 

~ Brower's The Mississippi and its Source, vol. vii. of Minnesota 
Historical Society Collections. 




Nicollet's Creek, bey out! Itasca. 

{" The Cradled Hercules.") 

Courtesy of J. V. Brower. 



The Jean N. Nicollet Expedition 121 

ened to the mysterious source of the Nile! (Pliny, lib. v.) 
Five small creeks enter this lake, all but one mere trickling 
rills, oozing from clay beds at the bases of the hills that 
consist of an accumulation of sand, gravel, and clay, inter- 
mixed with erratic fragments. 

The elevations are flat on top, varying in height from eighty- 
five to one hundred feet above surrounding waters. They are 
covered with thick forests, in which coniferous plants pre- 
dominate. South of Itasca Lake, they form a semicircular 
region, with a boggy bottom extending to the south-west sev- 
eral miles: thence these Hauteurs des Terres ascend to the 
north-west and north, and then, stretching to the north-east 
and east through the zone between 47 and 48 N. latitude, 
make the dividing ridge between the waters that empty into 
the Gulf of Mexico and into Hudson Bay. The waters sup- 
plied by the north side of these heights — still on the south 
side of Itasca — give origin to the five creeks referred to. 
These are the utmost sources! Those that flow from the 
southern side of the same heights form Elbow Lake, the source 
of the Red River of the North. They are close together. 

Of the five streams mentioned, one empties into the east 
bay of the lake and the other four into the west bay. I visited 
them all. I explored the principal one (August 29, 1836). 
At its entrance into Itasca it is between fifteen and twenty 
feet wide, and has a depth of two to three feet. I paddled 
against a brisk current for twenty minutes; stream full of 
obstructions. Leaving my canoe, I sought the springs among 
the hills on foot. After a walk of three miles, into the hills, 
found a small lake, from which the Mississippi flowed in a 
current a foot deep and two feet wide. At no great distance, 
however, this rivulet, uniting itself with other streams, sup- 
plies a second minor lake. From this lake issues a rivulet, 
larger and stronger, — " a cradled Hercules," — giving promise 
of its strength and its maturity, for its velocity has increased. 
It transports the smaller branches of trees ; it begins to form 
sand-bars; its bends are more decided, until it subsides again 
into the basin of a third lake, larger than the two preceding. 
Having here acquired renewed vigour and tried its consequence 



12 2 The Mississippi 

upon an additional length of two or three miles [sic] it 
finally empties into Lake Itasca, the principal reservoir of all 
the sources to which it [the Mississippi] owes its subsequent 
majesty. 

M. Nicollet was evidently in the dark as to the 
origin of the name Itasca. ( See " Report," p. 59.) 
This is what he says of the island: 

There is only one island in Itasca Lake, not more than 
two hundred and twenty-two yards long,i with a sandy, grav- 
elly soil but covered by a full growth of northern trees that 
give to it a picturesque appearance. [Again, he says:] The 
Mississippi, as it issues from Itasca, is sixteen feet wide, four- 
teen inches deep, beautifully transparent, and swift in cur- 
rent. The temperature of the water (August 29th) at 7 a.m., 
was sixty-two whilst the air was fifty-six. After an hour's 
descent, the stream enlarged to twenty-five feet, three feet 
deep. 

In view of discussion regarding the actual achieve- 
ments of Jean N. Nicollet, we cannot do better 
than to quote, literally, his official report to Con- 
gress, pubhshed January 11, 1845, — nearly nine 



1 It is interesting to compare this statement with Lieutenant 
Allen's report (of the Schoolcraft expedition) in which he says: 
*' The island, which I called * Schoolcraft,' in Lac La Biche, is 150 
yards long (450 feet), 50 yards broad (150 feet) and elevated 20 
or 30 feet in its highest part; a little rocky in boulders and grown 
over with pine, spruce, wild cherry, and elm." (See Executive Docu- 
ments, 1st Session, 23d Congress, vol. 4, p. 44. Also p. 323.) Here 
is what he says of the region: "The lake is surrounded by hills 
300 feet high, of irregular shape, conforming to the bases of these 
pine hills, which for a great part of its circumference rise abruptly 
from its shores. The lake is deep, very clear, and cold. ... It 
would seem that no kind of animal life was adapted to so gloomy a 
region." 



The Jean N. Nicollet Expedition 123 

years after his journey and four months after 
his death. He had given many of his last hours to 
a revision of the proofs/ We begin with the con- 
clusion of the final portage from Leech Lake into 
Itasca: 



The last in the series [of ridges], also the highest, is one 
hundred and twenty feet above the waters of Itasca Lake. 
This ridge, with a rapid descent, led us to the borders of the 
lake, where I took a barometrical observation at noon. 

My next move was to pitch my tent on Schoolcraft Island. 
The staff, at the top of which that gentleman informed us he 
had raised the American flag, had been cut down by Indians. 
I made use of what remained to fix upon it my artificial hori- 
zon, and immediately proceeded to make astronomical observa- 
tions, and to take up the exploration of the sources of the 
Mississippi. 

The Mississippi holds its own from its very origin; for it 
is not necessary to suppose, as has been done, that Lake 
Itasca may be supplied with [from] invisible sources, to jus- 
tify the character of a remarkable stream, which it assumes 
at its issue from this lake. There are five creeks that fall 
into it, formed by innumerable streamlets oozing from the 
clay beds at the bases of the hills, that consist of an accumu- 
lation of sand, gravel, and clay, intermixed with erratic frag- 
ments, being a more prominent portion of the great erratio 
deposit previously described and which here is known by the 
name of ''Hauteurs des Terrcs" — heights of land. 

These elevations are commonly flat at top, varying in height 
from eighty-five to one hundred feet above the level of the 

1 The text is taken from a copy of the Nicollet " Report " in the 
possession of the American Geographical Society, which is a presenta- 
tion volume inscribed, " To His Excellency, Baron Alexander von 
Humboldt, from his fervent admirer, J. G. Fliigel." Doc. No. 52, 
House of Representatives, 28th Congress, 2d Session, 1845; page 56 
et seq. Jean Godefroi Fliigel was a German lexicographer who served 
as a German consul in the United States and died in 1855. — J. C. 



12 4 The Mississippi 

surrounding waters. They are covered with thick forests, in 
which coniferous plants predominate.^ 

The waters supplied by the north flank of these heights 
of land — still on the south side of Lake Itasca — give origin 
to the five creeks of which I have spoken above. These are 
the waters which I consider to he the utmost sources of the 
Mississippi. Those that flow from the southern side of 
the same heights, and empty themselves into Elbow Lake, 
are the utmost sources of the Red River of the North; so that 
the most remote feeders of Hudson Bay and the Gulf of 
Mexico are closely approximated to each other. 

Now, of the five creeks that empty into Itasca Lake, one 
empties into the east bay of the lake: the four others into the 
west bay. I visited the whole of them; and among the latter 
is one remarkable above the others, inasmuch as its course is 
longer, and its waters more abundant : so that, in obedience to 
the geographical rule, " that the sources of a river are those 
which are most distant from its mouth," this creek is truly 
the infant Mississippi; all others helow, its feeders and 
tributaries. 

The day on which I explored this principal creek (August 
29, 1836), I judged that, at its entrance into Itasca Lake, its 
bed was from fifteen to twenty feet wide, and the depth of 
water from two to three feet.^ We stemmed its pretty brisk 
current during ten or twenty minutes; but the obstructions 
occasioned by the fall of trees compelled us to abandon the 
canoe, and to seek its springs on foot, along the hills. After 
a walk of three miles ^ {sic), during which we took care not 
to lose sight of the Mississippi, my guides informed me that 
it was better to descend into the trough of the valley; when, 
accordingly, we found numberless streamlets oozing from the 
bases of the hills. [Remarks about temperature at this point 
are omitted.] 

1 A brief omission of matter quoted by Brower, and of a few sen- 
tences describing the dividing ridge between the Mississippi and Red 
River of the North, occurs here. The latter is not pertinent (p. 58). 

2 The reader is asked to refer to the Government survey map in 
the front of this volume. 




The Mouth of Nicollet's Creek, where it Enters Itasca. 
(Taken since the Building of the Dam at the Outlet of the Lake.) 



The Jean N. Nicollet Expedition 125 

As a further description of these head waters, I may add 
that they unite at a small distance from the hills whence they 
originate, and form a small lake, from which the Mississippi 
flows with a breadth of a foot and a half, and a depth of a 
foot. At no great distance,^ however, this rivulet, uniting 
itself with other streamlets coming from other directions, 
supplies a second minor lake, the waters of which have already 
acquired a temperature of 48°. From this lake issues a 
rivulet, necessarily of increased importance — a cradled Her- 
cules, giving promise of the strength of its maturity; for its 
velocity is increased; it transports the smaller branches of 
trees; it begins to form sand bars; its bends are more de- 
cided, until it subsides again into the basin of a third lake, 
somewhat larger than the two preceding.^ Having here ac- 
quired renewed vigour, and tried its consequence upon an 
additional length of two or three miles [!], it finaHy empties 
into Itasca Lake, which is the principal reservoir of all the 
sources to which it [the Mississippi] owes all its subsequent 
majesty. [Some comments on Schoolcraft, Lieutenant Allen, 
and Beltrami are omitted.] 

After having devoted three days to an exploration of the 
sources of the Mississippi, I took leave of Itasca Lake, to the 
examination of which the expedition that preceded me by 
four years had devoted but a short time. (Allen's report, 44.) 

M. Nicollet's account of his descent of the river to 
Lake Cass does not differ greatly from that of Lieu- 
tenant Allen, who accompanied Schoolcraft. From 
that point, he went " through intermediary lakes and 
portages " to Leech Lake, where we leave him. 

Mr. J. V. Brower, who gave the best years of his 
life to maintaining the worthy, if confusing, claims of 

1 Among the articles enumerated in M. Nicollet's kit was " a meas- 
uring tape " and it is to be regretted he did not use it. 

~ All of which is very confusing, unless we are to understand that 
the stream grew larger as it neared its ultimate source. Nicollet in 
his ascent, " took care not to lose sight of the Mississippi." Mr. 
Brower's explanation is ingenious (see next page). 



126 The Mississippi 

Jean N. Nicollet, admitted the difficulty of explaining 
Nicollet's report. He says ^ : 

The discovery of three small lakes by M. Nicollet, up the 
channel of the main tributary, so graphically described by 
him, and the manner in which he located them upon his map, 
without careful courses and measurements, has misled ob- 
servers of the locality as to his three lakes. Hopewell Clarke 
was led to presume that his third lake was a small body of 
water (now a dry bed) to the eastward of his middle lake, 
while my casual examination of 1888, in the confusion of 
location in which M. Nicollet placed these three bodies of 
water, indicated that the third lake up the tributary did 
not exist, and a belief accordingly was publicly expressed. 
No one question has been more puzzling than the identity of 
Nicollet's third lake. There is a probability that M. Nicollet 
in passing up the valley and affluent discovered by him 
became bewildered in the thickets of the locality, which pre- 
cluded the possibility of his correctly delineating the topo- 
graphy of the spot. It is absolutely impossible to certainly 
and accurately trace his stejjs after he left his canoe and 
passed along the brow of the hills, being careful to remain 
within sight of the stream, that he might not become lost. It 
is possible, since it is certain that he passed up the valley 
on the east bank of the stream, that he only saw two lakes, 
for the peculiarities of the topography there, in passing up 
the valley on the brow of the hills on the east side of the 
stream, bring the middle lake in sight first, and continuing, 
the lower lake comes in sight, thence passing up the stream 
the middle lake again comes to the view. Query: May it not 
have been that Nicollet, passing the middle lake first, reach- 
ing the lower lake second, and then again arriving at the 
middle lake, may have made the mistake of describing the 
two lakes as three, having arrived in sight of the middle lake a 
second time? Such a view is forced upon the reader of his 
report, in the light of a survey in detail of Nicollet's lower 

^The Mississippi River and its Source, by J. V. Brower. Min- 
nesota Historical Society Collections, vol. vii., 162. 




The Outlet of Nicollet's Middle Lake. 



The Jean N. Nicollet Expedition 127 

and middle lakes; especially so, since it is known that the 
waters, in abundance, ooze from the base of the hill imme- 
diately above Nicollet's middle lake, and uniting form a stream 
of continued surface flowage to Itasca Lake. It is very doubt- 
ful if Nicollet ever saw the pool of water which has been 
designated as his third lake, for purposes of correct geo- 
graphical delineation. It, however, is the only pathway out 
of a dilemma at this time. 

After an exhaustive consideration of the question, it is 
believed that the underground channel, now distinctly defined 
between Nicollet's upper and middle lakes, possibly might have 
been, in 1836, a surface channel, and, accordingly, a declared 
determination upon the question of the three lakes has been 
made with much doubt.^ 

Just how much this explanation explains is left to 
impartial readers. The author of this volume does not 
express an opinion; and he venerates Mr. Brower. 

In this immediate connection (although it does not 
belong here chronologically), I annex to M. Nicollet's 
report the account of Hopewell Clarke's special survey 
of the Nicollet valley, made in 1886, at the instance 
of Henry D. Harrower.^ Mr. Clarke's standing and 

1 St. Paul, Minn., Dec. 18, 1889. 

After due deliberation, and with a copy of Nicollet's original map 
of the sources of the Mississippi and North Red River before us, we 
conclude the three lakes noted by Nicollet on the principal affluent to 
Lake Itasca, as shown by his said map, are the two lakes in the 
south-east quarter of section 21, and the small lake in the south-west 
corner of section 22, township 143, range 36. 

Signed: Hopewell Clarke, 

J. V. Broweb. 

2 Mr. Henry D. Harrower, representing the educational publishing 
house of Ivison, Blakeman, Taylor & Co., had previously issued a 
small volum.e dealing conclusively with the claims of Captain Willard 
Glazier, made by Glazier as a result of a trip to the Itasca country 
in 1884, On page 21 of that book, Mr. Harrower says: " Some time 
after most of this paper was in type I learned the name and ad- 
dress of the New York Herald correspondent of 1872. Mr. Julius 
Chambers at once kindly placed his note-book at my service, and a 



128 The Mississippi 

experience are recognised. With two assistants, he 
entered the Itasca basin from the southward, by way 
of Park Rapids, and arrived at Itasca Lake, October 
13, 1886. His report bears date of December 7th, of 
that year; and his survey map, taken therefrom, is much 
more detailed than that of the Government surveyor, 
Edwin S. Hall. 

DESCRIPTION OF THE CLARKE MAP 

Nicollet Creek is the largest feeder of the lake. It is 16 
feet wide and 21/2 feet deep at its entrance to Itasca. My 
exploration of this stream was the most complicated and 
difficnlt of our undertakings, and it was with considerable 
difficulty that we were able to identify the three lakes which 
Nicollet describes: but, while on the ground, we concluded 
that Nicollet's three lakes are those marked on my map A, B, 
and G. At first sight, it would seem, from Nicollet's descrip- 
tion, that these are not the ones to which he referred; and 
I have given much study to the points involved, endeavouring 
to reconcile his description with some other theory. 

We followed the stream to the first lake at the edge of 
the hills and through the swamps; the course of the brook is 
two miles in length and seemed like four. Distances on the 
ground double up very fast when one follows crooked streams, 
— as you will remember when you compare the length of the 
stream between Itasca and Elk lakes (1084 feet) with the act- 
ual distance between the two lakes (350 feet). If we add to 
the actual length of the course of the stream from the lake A 
to its outlet at D, which is in reality two miles, the difficulties 
Nicollet encountered wading through the tamarack marsh, we 

copy of his note-book map is here reproduced for the first time. See 
page 22." On page 26, he adds: "Mr. Chambers went over every 
mile of the river by water. He did not make any stump speech, did 
not rate himself a great discoverer, did not call his lake, * Lake 
Chambers,' was not greeted by brass-bands, and did not finally re- 
ceive the freedom of the city of New Orleans." 



The Jean N. Nicollet Expedition 129 

can easily believe that this is the course he describes as " two 
or three miles in length. . . ." 

But lake G is not the source at the present time from which 
Nicollet's stream draws its principal supply of water. To find 
this source, after considerable exploration, we were obliged to 
go to a lake which has its head in the north-western quarter 
of section 34. This is the utmost source and fountain-head 
of the water flowing north into Lake Itasca. The lake itself 
is fed by numerous springs along its borders, and its surface 
is 92 feet above the level of Lake Itasca. The small inlet from 
the lake marked / was dry when we visited it, but water runs 
through it in the wet season. The hills south rise from 20 
to 160 feet high, and water never has flowed over them, north- 
ward. It might be interesting to know how far it flows 
under them. It is certain that it does, but there is no way 
to trace the course or distance. All the streams in this part 
of the basin rise in springs in tamarack swamps, which are 
undoubtedly fed by water percolating under the hills from 
lakes and swamps beyond; and, no doubt, the group of lakes 
V, B, W, and X, in the southern part of sections 33, 34, and 
35, which spread out to a considerable extent in sections 3, 
4, and 5 of the townships next south, are the reservoirs that 
feed a number of these streams. Beginning with the lake 
marked E, it spreads northward nearly half a mile. At its 
northern end, the water flows out of this lake in a stream 
11/2 feet wide, and 1 foot deep, and, running west about 200 
feet, empties into a small lake about 2 acres in extent, marked 
G. This lake connects with another of the same size about 
20 feet to the west of it. 

At the time we were there, both ponds were full of moss 
and bogs, and almost dried up, the abundant inflow of water 
running out by underground passages as fast as it came in; 
but both lakes show that at some seasons of the year they 
contain 4 feet more of water, caused by the increased flow in 
the springtime and in the rainy season. At that time the 
underground passages are not large enough to carry the water 
off, and so it accumulates and the ponds fill up. Apparently 
they once had a surface outlet which is now closed by a beaver 



130 The Mississippi 

dam. The water flowing from the two lakes feeds the two 
springs numbered 3 and 5. 

Proceeding to the spring marked 5, we find the water 
bubbling up and flowing away in a rapid, lively stream, in a 
direction generally northward. It is fed by springs along its 
course until it reaches the extreme south-western corner of 
section 22, where it is 2i^ feet wide and 8 inches deep, and 
discharges into a small pond of about 5 acres in extent. This 
pond is the most remarkable one in the course of the stream ; 
it has no surface outlet, and, from the formation of the land 
about it, apparently has never been any larger than it now 
is; but, with the large volume of water flowing into it, we 
perceive that it must, of course, have a steady and sufficient 
outlet underground. This we found to be toward the west, 
where it bursts forth in an immense spring or pool, marked 
2, in the extreme south-eastern quarter of section 21. The 
lowest point on the hill between the pond and the spring is 
12 feet above the level of the pond; and the water, dropping 
underground, bubbles up in the swamp 200 feet away and 33 
feet below that level. The stream passes underground from 
section 22 into section 21, and is therefore invisible to one 
following up the course of the section line. 

Proceeding from the spring marked 2, the water flows in 
a north-westerly direction, and empties into the lake marked 
B, — the second one of Nicollet's chain of lakes. The outlet 
of this lake is on the west side, a stream 3 feet wide and a 
foot deep, joined at a short distance by another from the 
south. Following up the stream, which joins the main one 
on section 21, we find it rises on section 28 at a spring 
marked 3, evidently fed by an underground passage from the 
pond F. These streams are re-enforced throughout their 
course by springs which ooze from the bases of the hills that 
line the tamarack swamps; so that, when the creek leaves 
lake A, it flows with a brisk current 12 feet wide and 1 foot 
deep, which is further re-enforced by numerous springs all 
the way to Lake Itasca. At the point of its discharge into 
the lake, it is a broad, well-defined stream, 16 feet wide, and 
2l^ feet deep at its deepest point. 




The Sources of the Mississippi. 
First Official Survey Map, 1875, by Edwin S. Hall. 



CHAPTER X 

Elk Lake to South-west Pass 

SCHOOLCRAFT in 1832 and Nicollet in 1836, 
— nobody of record since that time ! " exclaimed 
a New York newspaper correspondent in the 
Congressional Library, at Washington, one day, after 
an examination of all reports, official and otherwise, of 
exploration at the head-waters of the Mississippi River. 
The time was January, 1872. Forty years had elapsed 
since Schoolcraft had visited and named Itasca Lake, 
as " the true source " of the " Father of Waters." 

Mr. Schoolcraft's official report showed that he had 
merely paddled from the southern end of the eastern 
arm of Itasca to the only island in the lake and thence 
direct to the outlet. That he had overlooked important 
features was proved by Nicollet's visit, four years later. 
This capable and scholarly Frenchman had passed four 
days at Itasca and had examined the west arm of the 
lake, which Schoolcraft had wholly neglected. 

Plans for a trip to the sources of the Mississippi 
took form in the correspondent's mind, which were 
subsequently carried out. Three months in the open 
air had been ordered by a physician, to supplement 
recovery from serious illness, and such an outing af- 
forded opportunity to obey that command. The corre- 
spondent financed the expedition himself, although he 
arranged to send letters to the New York Herald. 

131 



132 The Mississippi 

The best map that Colton, New York's cartographist 
of the time, could supply, showed the Itasca region as 
a blank! A journey was made to Troy, and a canoe 
was ordered from Waters, Balch & Co., to be delivered 
at Saint Paul the first week in May. 

When the correspondent arrived at the capital of 
Minnesota, he visited the State Land Office, in hope 
that the large Colton map could be supplemented with 
details sufficiently clear to lay out a route to Itasca 
Lake. Not a single profitable addition was made to 
the chart! It was desirable to go by some other route 
than that of Leech Lake, which Nicollet had followed. 
Greatly disappointed, the would-be canoeist sent his 
boat by rail to Brainerd, but personally stopped in 
Duluth, still intent upon obtaining needed information. 
This " City of the Unsalted Seas " was then a small 
nest of white frame houses, clinging to a rocky hill- 
side, with mot enough scrubby pines to shelter its brood 
from the keen winds of Lake Superior. Its streets 
were sloughs and its hotel was something memorable. 
A photograph, secured that day, is veritable. 

The Northern Pacific Railroad was slowly progress- 
ing across Minnesota toward the Red River of the 
North. Possessing a personal letter from Jay Cooke, 
the directing mind in that enterprise, the writer of this 
narrative went to Brainerd and sought information at 
" Headquarters," as the combined hotel and offices of 
the corporation were described. There, Dr. Day, then 
Indian Commissioner, was encountered. He was on 
his way to White Earth. Acting upon his advice, the 
correspondent resumed the journey westward by rail. 
Leaving the train at Oak Lake station, not far from 
the present town of Detroit Lake, the night was passed 




Saint Paul, Looking Southwest. 
From a photograph taken in 1872. 




The ritv of Dnhith iu 1872. 



Elk Lake to South-west Pass 133 

in a log tavern, and on the following day a waggon 
carried the Commissioner and the correspondent twenty 
miles across the prairie to White Earth, seat of the 
Chippewa Indian Reservation of that name, where, at 
Morrison's trading post, the expedition to Itasca Lake 
was outfitted. 

I — AT WHITE EAETH MISSION 

The " hotel " was chiefly of logs and its partitions 
were of straw-board. Its mistress was a daughter of 
" Hole in the Day," a Chippewa chief whose name 
was national. A church and a school were the only 
evidences of civilisation, although a few small plots of 
ground were devoted to agriculture. " Graves in the 
air," bodies of the dead supported by poles, were seen. 
One of the best guides in the North-west, Henry Beau- 
lieu, of a famous French-Canadian family at Mackinaw, 
and a packman were engaged ; word was sent by runner 
to another Chippewa carrier to meet the party at the 
first long portage. 

The people at the Mission were gravely anxious, 
just then, regarding the fate of a missing man. One 
of the most widely known " timber-cruisers " in Min- 
nesota, Peter Kelly, had set out, more than a month 
before, to locate land-scrip in the Itasca wilderness, but 
had not returned. 

Frontiersmen are united by a brotherhood of com- 
mon, ever-present danger. Men belonging to the 
White Earth Mission had vainly tried to follow Kelly's 
trail into the brush and through a broad belt of fallen 
timber. The lost man was not familiar with the Itasca 
region. He was a servant of foreign monopolists, that, 



134 The Mississippi 

in local belief, were stealing timber lands from the 
government: nevertheless, these natural philanthropists 
could not permit Kelly to die in the woods, unsought. 
The second search party had returned, unsuccessful and 
hopeless. The pioneers at White Earth agreed that 
the " timber-cruiser " had been maimed in crossing a 
tornado path and had died of starvation in the woods. 

" Cruising for timber " is a livelihood of the forest 
primeval. The simile is apt. A woodman who seeks 
new lumber regions amid the pathless wilderness, where 
the sun is hidden by day and the stars b}^ night, is as 
bold a navigator as is the sailor on the trackless waste 
of the deep. 

iThe " timber-cruiser " is a child of the woods, as was 
the coureur de hois who preceded him; and, like his 
precursor, he is an advance agent of civilisation. Scien- 
tifically, he knows little of astronomy beyond the sun's 
course and the polar star. In the forest primeval, the 
heaven-lit constellations can rarely be seen; but the 
secrets of terrestrial nature, sacred possessions of path- 
finders gone before, guide him on his wa3^ His trained 
eye will detect the deflection of tender twigs toward 
the south. The gray moss of the tree-trunks is always 
on the side toward the north; the bark is more supple 
and smoother on the east than on the west; southward 
the mildew never comes. On the prairie, he knows that 
the tips of the grass incline toward the south, and are 
less green on the northward side. Thus does an un- 
lettered savant box the compass in the wilderness. 

(The " timber-cruiser " is a forest king! The wealth 
of the woods is his. Here he reigns alone, — he dares 
not have a confidant! His is the task of locating the 
land-scrip that capitalists or corporations have pur- 



Elk Lake to South-west Pass 135 

chased from government. He precedes the woodman, 
the axe, and the saw. He undertakes arduous jour- 
neys, equipped only with a blanket, a gun, a compass, 
and salted provisions. He relies upon his weapon to 
provide fresh meat and protection. His acts of 
courage, endurance, and skill never are witnessed, — 
never are discussed by himself. His success or failure 
is known only to the directors of the lumber companies 
that employ him and to whom he makes a detailed 
report. So retentive is his memory that at the end of 
a two months' " cruise " he can indicate upon a map the 
tracts of valuable woodland among a hundred square 
miles of worthless tamarack: but the exact location of 
the treasure is a secret to be guarded with his life. 
Months may pass before the lands can be " taken up '* 
and entered upon the records at Washington. 

The pathless forest is the " timber-cruiser's " home. 
Solitude is his companion; and, like his brother on " the 
multitudinous seas," he often dies alone, his unburied 
body becoming part of the elements he so intimately 
courts. He is unknown to song or story. 

A waggon carried our boat and provisions through 
six miles of morass, briars, and pine woods to White 
Earth Lake. Crossing this, the route followed the 
White Earth River for two miles to a portage around 
a fall. Seven miles farther, against a sluggish current, 
through another reed-encircled lake, brought us to a 
portage of one mile to the Twin Lakes. These bodies 
of water are prettily located amid pine-covered hills. 
We crossed the first one and encamped on the narrow 
strip of land that separates the two lakes. A wretched 
night among wood ticks and mosquitoes followed. 

After crossing the second lake, we were met by an 



136 The Mississippi 

aged Chippewa, engaged for the long carry of ten miles 
across a desolate tract of red sand and charred stumps, 
due north by the compass, to the Wild Rice River. The 
soil was a-bloom with purple moss, its only vegetation. 
Late in the day, this river was reached. It is twenty- 
five feet in width at this point, although on Colton's 
map it did not extend more than ten miles east of the 
Red River. We camped for the night. 

At four o'clock, sunrise, the ascent of the river be- 
gan. Wild Rice Lake, six miles long, was traversed. 
It is an immense field of rice, nowhere more than five 
feet deep, and supplies grain for a vast region. After 
leaving the lake, the stream became so tortuous that 
the compass "boxed" itself; thence, through a dense 
forest of pine, from which the river emerged into a 
grassy meadow, strewn with trunks and branches of 
large trees, — carried thither by tornado from a nearby 
tract of woods, across which it had passed. Several 
hemlocks and oaks were noticed standing on their tops, 
with trunks skyward ! This was not a " windfall " in 
the accepted sense, which is a tornado track through 
a forest. Two of the real sort, of different ages, were 
encountered on the following day, when a long portage 
(five miles), chiefly through tamaracks, had to be un- 
dertaken to reach a chain of three lakes, in the Wild 
Rice watercourse, the river course turning too far 
northward to be followed. 

Amid the fallen timber, the guide wielded a hand 
axe with surprising effectiveness, often leading the path 
up an inclined trunk of a fallen forest-monarch and 
chopping a path for descent along a similar bridge, 
equally slimy and treacherous. Within half a mile of this 
portage, we entered a fine grove of oak and basswood. 




A Typical Chippewa. 



Elk Lake to South-west Pass 137 

A small stream of clear water, that separated it from 
a tamarack morass, drew the line of demarkation. 

The methods of native guides have not changed since 
the days of St. Cosme or of Father Gravier, for my 
Chippewas frequently said : " Up this stream so many 
days," or " so many carries to such and such a 
place." 

The first of the three lakes mentioned charmed the 
eye. A mile and a half long, with a beach of spark- 
ling sand, it seemed a harbinger of civilisation; but not 
a house or wigwam was visible upon its shores. Al- 
though early in the afternoon, this marked the end of 
the day's work, because the aged packman, who had 
followed afoot, must be awaited. While the chief of 
the expedition was enjoying a bath in the cool water, 
the guide speared several large pickerel. The carrier 
came into camp about sunset. We decided to take him 
as far as the Mississippi. 

Two trips across the lake next morning were neces- 
sary to carry over our party and stores. The creek 
had become very shallow and clogged with grass, and 
the way to the third lake was most tortuous. Two of 
us walked along the banks of the first and second lakes. 

The last of the pretty lakelets is known to Sioux 
and Chippewa as " Kak-sha-boor-cow-mond." In its 
centre is a grass-covered islet, revered as a " spirit isle " 
by the Chippewas. Like the Puritan forefathers, 
Chippewas and Sioux believe in witchcraft: the Sioux 
tell tales of " were-wolves " encountered or heard in the 
forests. This is probably due to the fact that Chippe- 
was can imitate a wolf's howl to perfection. It is the 
cry they use on a trail to acquaint their companions of 
their whereabouts. 



138 The Mississippi 

II AT SPIRIT ISLAND 

Under strong protest from the two packmen, the 
guide and I crossed to the green island. After our 
return, the young Chippewa, learned in the traditions 
of his people, spoke: 

You were on holy ground. There dwelt a great-great- 
granddaughter of the first pale-faced woman. Her hair, white 
as the birch tree's bark, floated like a frosty mist about her 
head. On " Me-ne-do-me-nis," as we name that isle, is one of 
every species of tree between here and 0-mus-kose [Itasca 
Lake], brought here and planted by that gentle spirit's hands. 
Thus rose a sacred grove. Across these waters the warpath 
often led, but Sioux or Chippewa never profaned this hallowed 
spot, — as you have done. 

To which, Ka-ba-be-zen, aged carrier, did comment, 
in utmost seriousness: " A white spirit dwelt here, be- 
yond dispute. Men, known to me, have seen her stand- 
ing on yon hill, whence she watched them cross the 
lake. In later years, voyageurs profanely landed on her 
isle and found her lodge in ruins. The gentle spirit 
of that grove had gone away." 

Henrj^ Beaulieu, guide, then said: 

There is some historic basis for this tradition. The story 
of such a woman was told at Mackinaw when I was a boy. Her 
name was Temple. She came to the Straits, in the summer 
of 1835, with her father, a Major in the British service, long 
stationed at Quebec. When retired for age, he visited Macki- 
naw, intending thereafter to return to England. The old 
soldier was a widower; his wife, who had shared his active 
life in the barracks of the Chtlteau Saint Louis, was at rest 
in the lofty cemetery at Quebec, near the tall monument raised 
to both Montcalm and Wolfe. 

The population at the Straits was then composed of French- 



Elk Lake to South-west Pass 139 

Canadians, rather than English, and half-breeds of a dozen 
tribal affiliations. Instead of a fortnight's stay, the visit 
lengthened into weeks. The girl was young and of exalted 
imagination. She was fascinated by the romantic side of 
savage life. The Indian dances diverted her : she heard, again 
and again, tales of the coureurs de dots, — knights-errant of the 
wilderness. Their leader was an expatriated Frenchman, 
young and handsome as a picture, Henri Sainte-Ange. His 
name was chief passport to Major Temple's favour and 
brought to him acquaintance with the daughter. The young 
man was born to inspire admiration in the heart of a girl 
whose imagination was aglow with the weirdness of border 
life. The soldier's daughter allowed herself to be overcome 
by infatuation for this handsome boy of the woods and fled 
with him. The music of the name, " Sainte-Ange," dulled her 
conscience, no doubt. 

The lovers, with two strong men at the paddles, had been 
gone two hours when their flight was made known to Major 
Temple. The father's rage was terrible. 

" One hundred guineas to the crew that overtakes them ! " 
he shouted ; and, at the shore, he added : " A guinea to every 
man who joins the hunt ! " 

A score of canoes were manned. The pursuit began. Its 
course was out the Straits, eastward, toward Lake Huron, 
where, late in the day, the fugitives were descried. In the 
leading boat knelt the girl's father, toiling, like a maniac, at 
his paddle. The chase grew furious, for the sun was low: 
all had fear that, after dark, the guilty pair might escape 
and the reward be lost. 

The lovers beheld the vengeance that pursued. Crouching 
in the coureur's canoe, repentant and in tears, was she. As 
soon as his voice would carry to the hunted, the soldier's 
threat to the abductor was heard. 

"You die, you dog!" he shouted. 

The evening breeze bore the challenge to Sainte-Ange; he 
acted under the forest code. At a sign from him, his paddlers 
stopped. He stood to his full height and awaited the onset 
of the guinea-grabbing pack. When distance served, he 



I40 The Mississippi 

brought his rifle to his eye, and, with sure aim, shot Major 
Temple dead ! The veteran's body tumbled out the boat ! The 
game had rendered the hunter! 

The daughter's horror was too deep for tears. The panting 
crews from Mackinaw, kneeling at their places, were silent. 
All prospect of reward was gone and, in the twilight, the 
paddlers turned their faces homeward. 

The rest of this history [continued Beaulieu] I had 
from Monsieur Boulonger, who lives on the eastern bay of 
Winnebagoshish Lake, in our direct route to Pokegama Falls : 

Sainte-Ange dared not return to Mackinaw, fearing trial 
and punishment; so he carried his prize to the Chippewa 
country, at the head of Lake Superior. This meant fifteen days 
under paddle, through the Sault Ste. Marie and along the 
southern shore of the great lake to the present site of Duluth. 
The ascent of the river Saint Louis, with its foaming rapids 
and tiresome portages, consumed another week. Thence to 
Sandy Lake, on the Mississippi. 

Sainte-Ange was no longer a hero to the soldier's daughter : 
she covered him with maledictions. Neglect, reproach, and 
ill-usage were encompassed in the winter and spring that 
succeeded. Then came another grief, — a child was born. 

Before the river froze, Sainte-Ange descended the Missis- 
sippi, through the French Rapids, and passed the winter at 
a Chippewa village where Crow Wing now stands. His " white 
squaw," hopeless and remorseful, was shunned by all women 
of the tribe. The curse of her father's death was said to be 
upon her. 

In the spring of 183G, Sainte-Ange set out for Pembina 
[continued the guide]. Ascending the St. Peter's, he portaged 
over the familiar trail into a branch of the Red River of the 
North. Several stages were made toward Greater Winnipeg. 
His party camped one night at the mouth of the Wild Rice 
River. There the craven adventurer deserted the woman and 
his child. Frantic in her despair, Madame Sainte-Ange gath- 
ered provisions and set out alone in a small canoe which had 
been left for her. She turned its prow up the Wild Rice River, 
only because it led eastward: after days of hardship, she 



Elk Lake to South-west Pass 141 

reached this lake. She did not know that she was within 
five miles of " The Father of all Running Waters " that 
would have carried her to the sea. That island, over there, 
became an abode of penitence. She built a lodge, no doubt, 
as she had seen them built; she had learned to call a spark 
from the flint, and lived upon roots and fish. The child prob- 
ably succumbed during the first winter. The mother's end 
could not have been long deferred. 

Word for word, as the guide spoke, less tersely than 
above, the younger Chippewa, beneficiary of a mission 
school, translated the story to his companion. When 
he had finished, the -aged carrier shook his head. 

" It is a white man's tale ; and false," said he, " for 
spirits never die! " 

III — ^THE MISSISSIPPI 

Crossing the Spirit Lake in relays, the final five- 
mile tramp to the bank of the stream I was to follow 
to the Gulf of Mexico began. This is the famous 
A-ze-wa-wa-say-ta-gen portage, a route between the 
Upper Mississippi and the Red River of the North 
known to the Dakotas and Chippewas for generations. 
A clearly marked trail led for two miles through dense 
pine woods, thence into a tamarack swamp, — a dreary 
journey. We could not cover more than one mile an 
hour in the swamp. 

About five o'clock, we emerged from a tangled mass 
of hazel and willow bushes into a pretty meadow a 
mile wide, through which meandered a sluggish stream 
eighteen feet in breadth, — the Mississippi! 

While pitching camp, we were overtaken by a young 
man and woman, brother and sister. They came from 
White Earth. The girl, sweetheart of the missing 



142 The Mississippi 

Kelly, was typical mate for a " timber-cruiser." When 
the people at the Mission abandoned the search, she 
set out. There was n't any romance in her nature. 
Compelling her brother's co-operation, they started a 
day after us, but less encumbered, travelled more 
rapidly. They made their camp for the night near 
ours and shared our supper of " slugs," — dough boiled 
in water in which bacon had been prepared. Excellent, 
if hungry! When we separated, after breakfast, the 
girl held out a small, brown hand and asked : 

" You '11 look for him, I 'm sure ? " 

" Indeed, we shall," I promised, little thinking how 
real that pledge would become. 

"We shall go down-stream to Lake Pemidji; then 
we shall return to the Itasca region by the east 
branch and 'do up ' these hills. I '11 stay till I find 
hun." 

We watched that brother and sister launch their 
bark canoe, and we waved a farewell as they disap- 
peared, down-stream, round the first bend of the young 
Mississippi. 

Until a survey fixes upon a map the exact location 
at which the A-ze-wa-wa-say-ta-gen portage terminates 
on the Mississippi's bank, one has difficulty in estimat- 
ing its distance below the outlet of Itasca Lake. The 
aged carrier, before he left us, reckoned it at sixteen 
miles; but almost three daj^s' struggle with nature that 
followed led me to think the distance twice that much. 
Nicollet locates this point forty miles down-stream from 
Itasca, — as good a guess as any. After we had reached 
the goal, my guide calculated the journey at twenty-six 
miles. Personally, I haven't an opinion. 

The general direction was south. After the first 




Sample of Cedar Forest in the Itasea Country. 

(Minnesota Historical Society Collection.) 




The Mississippi River — Thirty Miles below Itasca Lake. 

(Minnesota Historical Society Collection.) 



Elk Lake to South-west Pass 143 

day's paddling up-stream, rapids were encountered, 
around which the boat had to be carried. Stretches of 
canoeable water were rare. We often had to tramp for 
hours in the bed of the stream because progress along 
its banks was impossible. This journey was attended 
with many hardships. Among the hills, on the third 
day, the stream was strewn with boulders; our supplies 
had to be packed in relays. The guide laid out a new 
trail along what appeared to have been a former bed of 
the river, carrying our route across a strip of tamarack 
and through a birch forest. This " cut-off " saved 
a detour in the bed of the rock-and-tree-gorged 
creek. 

Beauheu was master of his trade, a true coureur de 
hois. He " blazed " this trail so that it was as plain 
to him as Broadway. It was, nevertheless, a lonesome 
forest path. During these days, not an animal of the 
squirrel kind was seen: not a bird sang at dawn or 
a cicada chirped at nightfall. We found plenty of 
game lower down the long river, but in the Itasca 
wilderness, we absolutely saw nothing to shoot and must 
have starved had we depended upon hunting. Fish are 
not plenty in Itasca Lake although the Chippewa did 
succeed in spearing a few pickerel during our stay. 
His method was to go out after dark, with a roll of 
birch bark ablaze upon a pole of green wood projected 
over the bow of the canoe. 

When heart-breaking climbing over boulders and 
fallen timber in the channel, and slow, discouraging 
tramps through quagmires and pathless underbrush 
along the river banks brought us to the crest of the 
hills, gravelly stretches of water were met and ultimately 
a depth in which the canoe could be floated. The 



144 The Mississippi 

ascent of that eight or ten miles of the Mississippi is not 
a job for " a quitter "! 

When the trees broke away and the last rays of an 
afternoon sun were discernible ahead, in the open, we 
felt that a large lake was not far away. It could not 
be anything else than Itasca. The Mississippi not far 
below Itasca is very picturesque, as the frontispiece to 
this volume proves. 



IV — ITASCA 

The boat was dragged through what proved to be 
the last rapid, and in great expectancy we climbed in. 
Rounding a bend in the almost currentless stream, which 
had broadened to forty feet and bore every evidence of 
back-water from a large pond, we emerged into the 
north arm of Itasca Lake. We had arrived! 

The prospect from the outlet, looking eastward (as 
shown by a recent photograph) is not thrilling. The 
north arm of Itasca is half a mile broad and its eastern 
shore rises to a bluff of twenty-five feet. At the time 
of my visit, it had a background of soft-wood trees, 
with a few pines. The loneliness of the entire landscape 
was appalling. 

Below the outlet, on a grassy slope, we camped for 
the first night, preferring to select a better site on the 
following morning. We were worn out and hungry 
after a day spent in climbing the hills, — probably not 
more than seven or ten miles. While the guide was 
preparing supper, the Chippewa and I paddled a short 
distance down the lake and selected a camping site to 
which we could move on the following day. It was a 




Tlie Outlet of Itasca Lake, 1!)04. 

(Minnesota Historical Society Collection.) 




The Mouth of lioutwell Creek, West Shore of Itasca Lake. 

(Minnesota Historical Society Collection.) 



Elk Lake to South-west Pass 145 

dry knoll on the western shore, reached through a fringe 
of grass. 

As this trip occurred before the introduction of the 
kodak, recent pictures of the scenery of the Itasca re- 
gion and of the Mississippi have been made by special 
photographers or supplied by Commissioner Brower 
and by the Minnesota Historical Society. The recent 
death of J. V. Brower is most lamentable. At the 
time of my visit to Itasca, the landscape did not con- 
tain a house or wigwam, or any evidence of human 
visitation. There were no clearings, as shown in recent 
photographs. A government survey was not attempted 
until three years later, — probably ordered by an official 
of the United States Land Office, after the indifference 
shown toward the region had been set forth in my 
correspondence. 

Leaving the Chippewa with directions to move camp 
down the western shore of Itasca about three quarters 
of a mile, to the place selected the previous evening, 
the guide and the writer began the first real excursion 
on Itasca Lake. Out in the north arm, my first thought 
was to look for the island mentioned by Schoolcraft 
and Nicollet. At first, it could not be separated from 
the background; but in a little time reason was ex- 
plained. A headland shut it from jw. When that 
had been turned, Schoolcraft Island came plainly into 
sight; but, as we were looking at its narrow end, it 
appeared insignificant in size. Some stiff paddling, 
against a strong breeze, blowing up the lake, landed 
us upon its rocky shore. It does not exceed five hund- 
red feet in length and I walked over its area, despite 
underbrush and its rock-strewn surface. The guide 
thought the season too early for snakes, but he agreed 



146 The Mississippi 

with me that it was promising snake-land. These two 
acres of rocky ledge contain many fine trees; but the 
surface is grown with thorns and biTish. No evidences 
of camp-fires were visible; there was not a sign of 
recent visitation. Nicollet, I remembered, had camped 
elsewhere. The exact location of the island is shown 
in the first government survej^ made by Edwin S. Hall, 
in 1875, and published in 1876. 

In shape, Itasca Lake most nearly resembles a 
three-pronged starfish, — the eastern arm slightly longer 
than the other two. Its extreme length is three and 
one sixth miles. Mr. B rower " chained " it upon the 
ice. The most picturesque view of the sparkling water 
is had from Schoolcraft Island, looking south-west. 

M. Nicollet fixed the altitude of the surface of Itasca 
Lake at one thousand five hundred and seventy-eight 
feet; but ]Mr. Brower, in 1891, corrected these figures 
to one thousand four hundred and fifty-seven feet. The 
elevation was confirmed b}^ heavy frosts on the June 
mornings during our stay. One expects to find Nature 
at her best in that merry month ; but in the Itasca region 
April weather continues through ]May and June. Al- 
though it does not impress a visitor as a land suited 
to tender sprouts, some of the vegetation has tropical 
rankness. The days are noticeably longer than in lower 
latitudes ; but the sun shines in such half-hearted fashion 
that the waters of the lake retain the chill with which 
they come from the springs. 

The first day was devoted to an exploration of the 
eastern arm of Itasca Lake. Passing through the 
channel on the eastern side of Schoolcraft Island, we 
paddled round a grass-lined promontory, jutting from 
the north-eastward, into a reedj^ bay of considerable 




The East Ann of Itasca Lake. 

(Looking North from the Southern End.) 



Elk Lake to South-west Pass 147 

size, which terminated in a morass of wild rice. A small 
stream enters this bay. 

From this estuary, the east coast line was examined 
southward. The beach is gravelly, always grassy, and 
the forest comes down to the shore. Its tall trees are 
well shown in the photograph. Three landings were 
made at gullies that might have been mouths of small 
streams; but hills rose from the shore and a few rods 
of tramping in each instance dispelled any supposition 
that permanent bodies of water existed above. I sought 
in vain for evidences of continued use of the two trails 
by which Schoolcraft and Nicollet had portaged to 
Itasca from the eastern branch and from Leech Lake, 
respectively. Forty years of disuse had obliterated all 
traces of them. 

Not a rivulet enters the eastern arm of Itasca, ex- 
cept at the extreme south-eastern end. There a small 
stream comes down a gully. Disembarking, I walked 
up that ravine to the top of a rise, at which point the 
brooklet became insignificant. I saw no signs of a pond 
beyond; but recent official surveys show a small one 
half a mile to the southward. I did not " discover " 
it. Hopewell Clarke's experience was similar to mine. 
In the rainy season, this creek doubtless sends con- 
siderable water into Itasca. 

The coast line of the promontory that obtrudes it- 
self from the southward into Itasca was laboriously 
scrutinised. It does not contain an inflowing creek. 
The west shore of this east arm occupied much of the 
afternoon: it is generally reed-grown. Here was seen 
the finest timber between Itasca and Pemidji Lake, 
— where the right bank of the Mississippi, amid its Ten 
Rapids, is absolutely superb in its woodland. 



148 The Mississippi 

A tired party returned to camp that evening. 

V A NEW LAKE 

The second day, June 9th, was devoted to the west 
arm of Itasca. During the forenoon, the real find of 
the trip was made. In paddHng southward from the 
new camp, we deviated from the direct course to make 
a brief second visit to Schoolcraft Island; but it lay 
in shadow, because the sun had not yet cUmbed above 
the tree tops on the eastern hills. In going thence 
toward the west arm, we must have passed in close prox- 
imity to a submerged, rocky shoal, discovered by a gov- 
ernment survejdng party in after years, but we did not 
detect it. Its presence, however, accounts for surpris- 
ingly shallow soundings obtained in that part of Itasca. 

We began the day's work at the western point of 
the promontory, — recently christened by Commissioner 
Brower " Ozawintib Point," — and found the eastern 
shore of the west arm to possess reed-grown character- 
istics similar to those of the western beach of the east 
arm. The bluff is the same height, but large trees ap- 
peared to be fewer. At the southern end, however, the 
land back of the rushes sloped down to a swamp, — one 
of the same old tamarack quagmires we knew so well. 
Crowding our way along the edge of the grass, in a 
reedy cove, I saw an unmistakable cun-ent entering 
Itasca. A clogged watercourse was distinguishable in 
the rank sod of the tamarack bog beyond the grass: it 
had the distinctive character of a perennial stream, — 
the outlet of a storage reservoir. 

The canoe had been lightened of all luggage, ex- 
cept the gun, and carried only provisions for the mid- 







<! 



:^ 



Elk Lake to South-west Pass 149 

day meal: nevertheless, fallen saplings and shallow 
water rendered progress slow. The boat had to be 
lifted over logs and much brush had to be dragged out 
the watery path. After a half -hour's tedious progress 
up this crooked stream, we found unmistakable back- 
water and, climbing into the boat, soon paddled from 
the shade of overhanging boughs into a charming lake- 
let. It is more than a mile long and nearly as broad, 
although it did not look so large in the bright morn- 
ing sunlight. Here is a sizable lake certainly not seen 
by Schoolcraft, who never entered the west arm and 
only spent a few hours at Itasca. Nor is this deep 
reservoir mentioned by Nicollet, even after the most 
liberal interpretation is given to his language. 

This charming body of clear water lies in a deep 
bowl, formed by low hills on the east, a ridge on the 
west ending in a swamp. Southward are two swamps, 
but into the lake from that direction projects a prong 
of dry land, dividing the sheet of water, somewhat like 
Itasca, into two bays. Crossing to the western bay, 
the canoe was pushed up a large creek that entered at 
that point. Although the swampy valley was narrow, 
obstructions were such that I soon left the boat and 
tramped or waded a considerable distance, probably a 
mile, without finding any other lake. The forest in 
that locality is so thick that I could not see the " Heights 
of Land " lying to the southward. Returning to the 
canoe and to the lake, we paddled into the eastward of 
the two bays, which had been clearly noticeable while 
crossing the water. Among the rushes at its extreme 
end, we found a smaller stream than the one before 
visited and a short tramp along the eastern edge of 
the marsh soon brought me to a little pond. Further 



150 The Mississippi 

examination of the south-eastern shore disclosed only 
an inconsequential creek. Some tentative soundings 
were taken with a trolling-line but the depths found 
along the eastern shore were not great. Subsequent 
investigation has shown this lake to be much deeper 
than Itasca, proving it to be a separate bowl. Sound- 
ings of sixtj^-five feet, made by the JMississippi Com- 
mission, are frequent. Of the streams flowing into the 
lake, the one entering the west bay appeared to the 
writer the most important, although Mr. Clarke differs 
with this opinion. A small brook on the west side has 
since been named after A. H. Siegfried. 

Without consciousness of important achievement, I 
playfully called this lakelet " Dolly Varden," intending 
at a future time to rechristen it " Lake Lincoln," in 
honour of the martyred President; but, although the 
ISIinnesota Historical Society conceded the original dis- 
covery to me, General James H. Baker, then Surveyor- 
General of the State, was directed from Washington, 
wisely, no doubt, to transfer to the newly discovered 
lake the name originally borne by Itasca, namely, 
" Omoskos," or " Elk." Such act might be assumed 
to indicate that the government authorities, at Wash- 
ington, believed the lakelet to be the " true source." ^ 
J. V. Brower, Itasca Park Commissioner and official 
representative of the Minnesota Historical Society, set 

1 Regarding the choice of this name, Henry D. Harrower, of Ivi- 
son, Bla'keman, Taylor & Co., who sent Mr. Clarke to make a special 
survey, after the Glazier fiasco of 1881, says in the preface to the 
Clarke report : " The former surveyor-general of Minnesota, who had 
charge of the government land-office at St. Paul, states that, act- 
ing in accordance with general instructions from the government, he 
transferred the name from the larger lake, which Schoolcraft had 
called ' Itasca,' to the smaller in order to retain the designation 
originally used by the Indians." 



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Chambers Creek, Connecting Itasca with Elk Lake. (Elk Lake 

in the Distance.) 

(Copyright, 1909, by H. D. Ayer.) 



Elk Lake to South-west Pass 151 

forth the Society's decision on page 98, volume xi., 
Minnesota Historical Society Collections: 

Discoveries at the Source 

Earliest Probable Occupants^ Prehistoric. 

Earliest Known Occupants, Aboriginal. 

First Known op White Men, . . William Morrison, 1803. 

First Authentic Discovery_, Lake 

Itasca, H. R. Schoolcraft, 1832. 

Second Authentic Discovery, Prin- 
cipal Stream, , J. N. Nicollet, 1836. 

Third Authentic Discovery, Elk 

Lake, Julius Chambers, 1872. 

Fourth Authentic Discovery, 

United States Survey, .... Edwin S. Hall, 1875. 

Fifth Authentic Discovery, Spe- 
cial Survey, Hopewell Clarke, 1886. 

Returning to the outlet of the lake, I disembarked 
and ascended a hill thirty feet high, from which the 
waters of Itasca were visible through trees along its 
shore. Hardly four hundred feet separated the two 
bodies of water, indicating that the stream connecting 
them was tortuous. The presence of a bluff on each 
side of the narrow outlet of the smaller lake — hardly 
a rod separating the two — precludes the assumption 
that the two bodies of water were united in 1836, other- 
wise than by the present stream. Hopewell Clarke, 
C. E., has authorised me to quote from his report and 
to reproduce his sketch map, made in 1886, fourteen 
years after my visit. Incidentally, the map explains 
why I originally described the stream, since named 
" Chambers Creek " by Commissioner Brower, as tra- 
versing a tamarack swamp its entire distance from Itasca 



152 The Mississippi 

Lake. First, I reproduce Mr. Clarke's survey of the 
locahty, as found in his report (page 11) : 

One of the most interesting parts of our work was the 
survey and examination of the narrow strip of land between 
Lake Itasca and Elk Lake. We found it to be 350 feet wide 
at the narrowest point between the lakes, and 520 feet meas- 
uring along the crooked trail at the base of the knoll. The 
lakes run nearly parallel for 1020 feet, and the strip of land 
contains in all about 10 acres. 

The portion shown as hilly on the plat is a small mound- 
like elevation, nearly devoid of all timber, which rises with 
a gradual slope south from Lake Itasca to a height of 33 feet, 
and descends abruptly to the shore of Elk Lake. Its direction 
between the lakes is nearly east and west. Its height above 
Lake Itasca at its western base is 10 feet, where it is less 
than 100 feet wide; and thus, if each lake were a little higher 
in elevation, they would at this point be within 100 feet of 
each other. The highest point on the trail between the two 
lakes is 12 feet. The ridge extends to the outlet of Elk Lake, 
from which point Lake Itasca is in full view. Another hill 
rises to the east of the outlet, leaving an opening 12 feet 
wide, through which the stream flows with a rapid current, 
in a channel 6 feet wide and 6 inches deep. The balance of 
the land between the two lakes, on either side of the creek, 
is a tamarack swamp. 

The outlet of Elk Lake flows nearly north-east 80 feet, and 
enters the tamarack swamp, where its general direction is north 
for 600 feet, until it reaches a point within 110 feet of Lake 
Itasca. It then curves back toward Elk Lake, and finally 
enters Lake Itasca, its whole course from Elk Lake measuring 
1084 feet. Where it debouches into Lake Itasca, it is 7 feet 
wide and 8 inches deep. We noted its width at numerous 
places in its course, and found it to vary from G to 12 feet, 
and its depth from 2 to 8 inches. It gains nothing from springs 
along its route, and its increased width and depth are caused 
by back water from Lake Itasca. It is a very pretty little 
stream, and has been cleared out by the Indians. The dif- 



'•''Vx^^!- 



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o 



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g 

o 



o 

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Elk Lake to South-west Pass 153 

ference in elevation between the two lakes is 1 foot and J 
inch. The stream between the lakes falls 6 inches between 
Elk Lake and a point where it enters the tamarack swamp, in 
the first hundred feet of its course; the balance, 7 inches, 
measures the fall in its course through the tamarack swamp 
of nearly 1000 feet. 



A sketch map, by Mr. Clarke, is on opposite page. 

One thing particularly noticeable about Elk Lake, 
namely, its great depth, has been mentioned. In Itasca, 
soundings rarely exceed twenty-five or thirty feet, while 
in Elk Lake they are generally twice as deep. The 
aged tamaracks in the swamp between Itasca and Elk, 
as well as the two points of land, confirm a belief that 
the lakes have never been one since the original sub- 
sidence of the waters, — as special pleaders for Nicollet 
argue. One of the streams emptying into Elk Lake 
extends southward therefrom two miles to the region 
of the shallow ponds on higher ground, so clearly shown 
in the map of the Itasca State Park. The most ac- 
curate charts recently made do not show communicating 
watercourses between many of these lakes and ponds. 
The writer of this volume has not any personal 
jealousies to exploit. To him, the Elk Lake trip 
is a delightful memory, unmarred by a single un- 
friendly thought. He was in search of health, not 
glory. 

When camp was regained, after most of a day spent 
in sight of the sparkling lakelet to the southward, in- 
cluding a refreshing splash in its waters, Itasca looked, 
after sundown, as forbidding as Lethe's stream. Sleep, 
but not a bath therein, brought forgetfulness to a tired 
canoeman. 



154 The Mississippi 

VI — Nicollet's creek 

Great honour belongs to Jean N. Nicollet for re- 
searches he made in the narrow valley west of Elk Lake. 
The writer of this volume had read Nicollet's official 
report, also his preliminary one, before starting on this 
trip. " The Cradled Hercules " had not inspired the 
enthusiasm with which its discoverer had endowed it. 
An inspection of its mouth, on the morning following 
the day spent at Elk Lake, sufficed to dampen such 
ardour as he might have felt. That creek belongs to 
M. Nicollet! When expert civil engineers, like Hope- 
well Clarke and J. V. B rower, cannot reconcile vital 
features in Nicollet's survey, special correspondents 
would best keep off. The mouth of the creek was in- 
significant in 1872, compared with its aspect since a 
lumber dam has been built at the outlet of Itasca 
(1903). 

Its present appearance, from a recent photograph, 
is shown in the picture. 

The work of M. Nicollet, in 1836, has been so thor- 
oughly followed up by Hopewell Clarke, in 1886, and 
J. V. Brower, in 1891-96 and 1901, that their reports 
have been given precedence^ out of chronological order, 
in the chapter on M. Nicollet (IX.). These gentle- 
men make out a better case for the French explorer 
than he does for himself. This may have been due to 
unf amiliarity with our language, although that explana- 
tion never has been offered. 

Coasting the west beach of the west arm of Itasca, 
after leaving the mouth of " The Cradled Hercules," 
a thousand yards of paddling brings one to an estuary, 
into which a small stream flows from a tamarack 



Elk Lake to South-west Pass 155 

forest, having its sources in springs at the base of the 
bluffs, half a mile back from the lake. (Commissioner 
Brower named it " Boutwell Creek," after the guest of 
the Schoolcraft party.) This is the last feeder to 
Itasca Lake. 

yil — ^DOWN THE YOUNG MISSISSIPPI 

The descent of the river to the A-ze-wa-wa-say-ta- 
gen portage is play compared with the ascent. The 
canoe was readily dropped through the Kakab-ikans 
Rapids by the guide and Chippewa walking in the 
stream, each holding an end. The first affluent of the 
Mississippi enters it from the west. In the series of dis- 
mal gorges, where the river tumbles over huge boulders, 
darts around sharp, rocky corners, and gurgles over 
fallen logs, boat and provisions were packed. It is a 
region of evil omen. 

Much lighter in equipment than when we ascended 
the hills, I had only my knapsack to carry. At the 
end of a toilsome afternoon, we encountered the guide's 
newly made trail, which left the river to our right-hand 
and traversed a defile into a region of tamarack. Near 
its northern end, we had left a cache of provisions, of 
which we w^re now in need. Cache is hardly the word, 
because a bag of flour and of salt fish had been fast- 
ened to a sapling, *' ridden down " by the native and 
then allowed to return to its natural position with our 
stores at its top. The guide insisted that we push ahead 
to that point before camping for supper. Much fa- 
tigued, I demurred; but, in the woods, a guide speaks 
by authority. He explained that a young bear, able 
to climb a sapling, might get our provisions. The sun 



156 The Mississippi 

was above the horizon, as I sat down to rest. Guide 
and Chippewa were told to go ahead; I was confident 
of my ability to overtake them. I fell asleep instantly : 
when I awoke, twilight had begun. I transcribe my 
experiences, as written that night in the log-book : 

Hurrying along the new trail, I cover half its length 
before darkness renders invisible the axe-cuts upon the 
trees. Very soon, I am wandering among scrubby 
pines and tamaracks, out of sound of the river. Turn- 
ing eastward to regain the stream, I stumble over en- 
tangling roots and sink into bog-holes. Diy wood for 
a fire is not to be had; I am not woodsman enough to 
light a strip of birch-bark. Not an echo returns my 
shouts. One cartridge remains in my revolver; but I 
dare not use it to fire a signal of distress. Climbing 
the hills, the guide had pointed out trees torn by bears' 
claws, a trivial incident in his company. 

A shower bursts, accompanied by lightning and 
thunder. Camp lay north-west, from one to three miles, 
— dependent upon my wanderings. The shadow of a 
hill looms up and I follow its base, hoping to reach 
the river bank. I ask no greater boon than to hear its 
waters again. Into the tamaracks, over treacherous sod 
that hides bog-holes, — doubling on my tracks! Dan- 
gerous to go foi*ward: equally so to remain where I 
am. My companions may not find me, and that means 
starvation! 

Exhausted with fatigue and anxiety, under dripping 
boughs, I stand stock still and listen. In all my world, 
the only sound is rain! In indescribable loneliness, I 
shiver with nervousness, or chill. I remember the lost 
timber-cruiser. What if I meet him, crazed with 
hunger! In growing di'ead, I dare not shout for aid. 




A Minnesota Forest. 
(Minnesota Historical Society Collection.) 



Elk Lake to South-west Pass 157 

A new sound! Not rain, although the drip, drip, 
drip from the water-laden boughs goes on. Not the 
movement of man or animal; surely, not the rustling 
of leaves? 'T is running water I hear: the way to the 
river is mine! 

A few yards distant is the tiniest of brooklets, hail- 
ing me in Nature's own sweet language of hope. Its 
voice is low at the brush-formed cascade from which 
it calls, but its word is — " Thoroughfare ! " 

Into the channel of that tiny creek, lest it elude 
me in the dark: a physical contest with tangled boughs 
and bushes soon brings me to the Mississippi. Here, 
also, the river bed is easiest route. At a bend in the 
watery path, the glare of my camp-fire flashes up. 

I find it deserted: guide and packman, alarmed at 
my non-arrival, are seeking me, in true chivalry of the 
forest. 

VIII PEMIDJI^ CASS^ AND WINNEBAGOSHISH 

The descent of the Mississippi through the three 
large lakes of the watershed above Pokegama Fall is 
crowded with sensational incidents. When the meadow 
land is reached, the river becomes tortuous but amply 
deep for paddling. During forenoon of the third day 
after leaving Itasca, we passed our camp site at the 
end of the White Earth route. Only a short distance 
farther, a real mystery of our voyage was met. 
A new, birch-bark canoe was found overturned in 
the stream. It had been fitted for a single occu- 
pant. The inside was blackened, as by an explosion of 
powder. It had caught in roots at the riverside. In- 
stinctively, we thought of the missing timber-cruiser. 



158 The Mississippi 

The guide gave as his opinion that a gun or powder 
flask had exploded in that boat. 

We camped that night upon a smooth bit of sod, 
under a sheltering maple tree. Next morning we 
entered a broader prairie and passed two short bits 
of veiy rapid water. On the left bank, a creek of 
considerable size joined the river. It drains a lake 
not far inland and is known as " Pinnididiwin," — an 
abbreviation of Jali-pinuniddiwin, " place of violent 
deaths." " Once upon a time," the people of a Chip- 
pewa village on the shores of the lakelet were massacred 
by their ancient enemies, the Sioux. Age and youth 
were not respected: captives were put to death with 
tortures. Our Chippewa, responsible for this state- 
ment, pointed out a tree into which a squaw of his 
people had climbed, to hide among the foliage. She 
was the only woman that escaped. My informant said 
the Chippewas thought the ability of a squaw to climb 
a tree so wonderful that this woman had been deified. 
(Tree climbing is utterly unnatural to an Indian, he 
explained. The importance of this lake outlet is due 
to the fact that it is reckoned to be one hundred miles 
from Itasca. 

We camped that night in a forest of pine and birch. 
The duty of making " smudges," or smouldering fires 
to smoke out mosquitoes, fell to me: the guide soon 
had a roaring fire and supper. It w^as chiefly of 
" slugs," — dough, roughly torn into pieces and boiled 
in water with the last piece of our salt bacon. The 
product was tough as rubber and heavy as lead; but 
when one is hungry, " slugs " are highly edible. 

We started at four o'clock next morning, in dense 
fog and raw weather until the sun got high. The Mis- 



Elk Lake to South-west Pass 159 

sissippi kept in the forest ; the scenery was of exceeding 
picturesqueness. Sometimes, the river encroached upon 
hills and created bluffs fifty feet in height. In such 
cases, a broad, sandy bank formed upon the opposite 
side. 'No noticeable increase in the size of the Missis- 
sippi occurs until junction with the eastern branch, 
coming from lakes Marquette, La Salle, Plantagenet, 
Assawe, and other small ponds. Each branch is about 
forty-five feet wide. The volume of water from this 
stream is larger than that of the main river, and more 
than doubles it in size. (This oj)inion differs from 
Schoolcraft's.) Below the junction, the right bank be- 
comes a beautiful grove of maple, oak, and beech. On 
the left, the land rises to a knoll and stray hemlocks 
are seen. The river has a straight stretch of about half 
a mile at this point. Woodland shifts to the left bank ; 
the right merges into a swamp of reeds, cat-tails, hazel 
bushes, and scrub poplars. The stream soon enters a 
marsh and a sharp turn to the right landed us in the 
smaller, or southern, section of Lac Travers (Pemidji ^ 
Lake). 

Little Pemidji is a handsome sheet of water. Dark 
forests of pine are seen to the east, but the soft woods 
on the western hills are of inferior character. Our 
course across this lakelet to the channel into the larger 
body was N. one point E., and the distance is one and 
one quarter miles. These two lakes were probably 
connected by a brook, but they are to-day practically 
one sheet of water, separated only by a narrow strip 



1 Since this region has been invaded by railroads, Pemidji is often 
spelled Bemidji. A town of that name, on the Great Northern Rail- 
road, has been established. The writer prefers to retain the original 
Chippewa spelling, without any philological discussion. 



i6o The Mississippi 

of low land, covered with a thick growth of heech and 
poplar. The view of Greater Pemidji, as one enters 
from the inlet, is impressive. The lake is probably 
seven miles long by four in breadth and has every sign 
of being deep. In the distance, the north shore ap- 
peared to be a high bluff, surmounted by fine forests. 
The north-eastern beach is swampy, but the land soon 
rises into a wooded plateau, pines predominating. The 
western shore is of yellow clay. We dined on the 
northern bank of the Mississippi, just where it leaves 
Pemidji; a hemlock there bears the Greek letter "delta." 

The Mississippi flows placidly out Pemidji, through 
a grove of towering hemlocks on the right: so clear is 
the water that the pebbly bottom can be seen at a depth 
of eight or ten feet. Fish are plentiful and our Chip- 
pewa speared many of them. At the end of a mile 
comes a change. A series of dangerous rapids follows 
one another so closely that there is not breathing space 
between them. They are called the Metoswa, or Ten, 
Rapids : we counted seven. The river has now increased 
to such volume as to render rapids dangerous to the 
craft that carries us. The destruction of one's canoe 
in the wilderness is almost as serious as loss of musket 
or cartridges. In the third rapid, where the roaring 
stream makes a sharp turn to the right and tears doAvn- 
ward among rocks for fifteen hundred yards, the Chip- 
pewa steered us into the wrong channel and our boat 
was so seriously broken that we got ashore with diffi- 
culty, for repairs. An hour sufficed to cure the leaks. 

The remaining rapids were less troublesome. At 
one of them, the river expanded to such width that 
the water was too shallow for our heavily loaded canoe. 
Chippewa and guide stepped overboard and directed 



Elk Lake to South-west Pass i6i 

the course of the boat. At the foot of this rocky stair- 
way, the Mississippi resumes its placidity and, after 
winding through a fine forest of poplar, oak, and 
pine, expands into a lake, — the first of three. The 
scenery at times is wild and picturesque. The three 
lakelets are in a vast meadow and their shores are reedy. 
The smallest is one mile in width. In the largest, which 
is twice as broad, we were treated to a hail-storm that 
badly battered us. The icy balls were large as filberts. 
Some were an inch in diameter; all were of milky 
whiteness. They fell in such quantities that the lake 
seemed a bubbling cauldron. Severe as were bruises 
upon wrists and shoulders, the scene was both curious 
and interesting. Our Chippewa insisted that many 
ducks, quail, and pigeons would be killed by the hail, 
but we looked for feathered victims in vain. The 
storm was followed by a double rainbow of resplendent 
charm. 

Cass Lake looks like a large body of water upon 
the map; but islands are so numerous therein that it 
can be navigated without hazard in canoes in all 
weathers. We stopped for a brief space at a Pillager 
teepee on Grand Island; then proceeded to the mouth 
of Turtle River, where we arrived at dark. This is 
the point at which David Thompson, the English trader, 
and Beltrami, the Italian voyageur, encountered the 
Mississippi. 

Turtle River is a large stream, and Governor Cass 
can hardly be blamed for thinking it the continuation 
of the Mississippi. He stopped at the mouth of Turtle 
River. There is a village of twenty lodges on the west- 
ern side of the river's mouth, but at the time of our 
visit all the men were away, hunting. The women were 



i62 The Mississippi 

sociable. In return for a pair of moccasins, bestowed 
upon a young native woman, I was invited to go fire- 
fishing that night at a small lake a few miles northward 
on Turtle River. The courtesy was declined; but the 
art of attracting fish by a flambeau and spearing them 
as they^ come to the surface to look at the torch has at- 
tained a high degree of perfection among the Pillager 
women. This tribe of the Chippewa nation was at one 
time larger than any other. In Schoolcraft's day, there 
were eight hundred families about Leech and Cass lakes. 
When I visited the village at the mouth of Turtle River, 
there were less than one hundred bucks, squaws, and 
pappooses attached to that settlement. The Chippewa 
nation gave to the Red Cedar (Cass) Lake tribe the 
name Muk-im-dua-win-in-e-wug ("men who take by 
force"), of which "Pillager" is an admirable trans- 
lation. They were named by the natives, but the 
philologist who Anglicised their title understood the 
English language. My fishing-tackle and cooking 
utensils disappeared, as by magic. Whenever we 
served a meal, a bunch of old women sat down to eat 
with us. But these Cass Lake Pillagers were the first 
living people we had seen since parting with the 
" timber-cruiser's " mate, many days before, and, for 
that, we forgave much. 

That was Minnesota in 1872. 

After the natives had partaken of three meals on our 
provisions, all served before noon, I ordered a start. 
We first moved across to the eastern bank of Turtle 
River's mouth; but in fifteen minutes ten squaws and 
three times as many boys and girls rejoined us. The 
river is forty feet broad and the current very swift. 
There must be a ford somewhere. My visitors had 



Elk Lake to South-west Pass 163 

taken off their single garments and carried them on 
their heads, because their clothing was not wet. We 
bade farewell to Turtle River in the middle of the after- 
noon. The outlet of the lake was attained at four 
o'clock. 

The Mississippi is one hundred and seventy feet 
wide where it leaves Cass Lake, and has become a 
majestic stream. This stretch of the river, almost to 
Lake Winnebagoshish, will always be remembered with 
great delight: it is a succession of handsome villa sites, 
without villas. The banks rise in gentle slopes to a 
plateau forty feet high; a sod of lawn-like smoothness 
is underfoot; the giant Norway pines do not keep out 
the sunlight and not a shrub of underbrush is seen. 
Each bend in the river develops a charming, grassy 
knoll; all that is lacking are houses and people. 

One mile of the Mississippi, before it enters Lake 
Winnebagoshish, — the Victoria Nyanza of the American 
river, — can be saved by a portage directly into the lake 
at a point where the stream approaches within a hund- 
red yards of the large body of water; but darkness 
admonished us to remain in the boat. 

/'As we emerged from the river's mouth upon the 
broad expanse of the lake, moon and stars were re- 
flected in the water. The weather was clear and cool. 
We hugged the west coast and very nearly suffered 
disaster by running ashore, under full headway. A 
tall tree, silhouetted against the sky, was assumed to 
be upon an island, but it marked the extremity of a 
narrow spit of land that runs a quarter mile into the 
lake. Rounding that point, we landed at the mouth 
of a small stream, and passed the night in an abandoned 
trading post. The memorable feature of that house 



164 The Mississippi 

was its wall-paper. Two sides of the interior were 
covered with pages from a folio Bible ! 

Mr. Schoolcraft says he found pelicans on this lake ; 
we did not see any. Our first daylight look at the great 
lake and its ten miles of open water, which must be 
crossed in a frail canoe, was almost terrifying. A gale 
was blowing from the eastward, which continued for 
forty-eight hours. Heavy surf dashed uj)on the beach 
and the broad expanse of this miniature sea was white 
with foam. We were " wind bound " two days. On 
the third morning, we crossed Winnebagoshish, — a very 
unpleasant experience and probably the most dangerous 
incident in my entire trip on the river. A squall oc- 
curred near the middle of the lake and a heavy swell 
developed. Constant bailing, which duty fell to me, 
alone prevented the boat from swamping. With much 
relief, we ran into smooth water in a narrow estuary 
that extends to the south-eastward, — a small replica of 
Green Bay, Wisconsin. On the shore, at this point, 
stood the hut of an aged French trader, Boulanger. 

Three miles of paddling down the river after leav- 
ing the bay brought us to a smaller lake, surrounded 
on all sides by reeds. (At this point the United States 
Government has recently built a dam, shown in the 
picture.) A portage exists at the south-eastern shore 
of this lake, leading to the Ball-club Lake. The saving 
of distance would have been considerable, but we fol- 
lowed the river, intending to make White Oak Point 
trading post before dark. 

We were soon in The Eagle's Nest Savannah, thirty 
square miles of meadow, covered by a foot of water. 
A novice might readily get lost in this vast shallow lake 
of waving grass, because the river channel is difficult 




The Wiiinebagoshisli Keservoii* Dam. 

(Minnesota Historical Society Collection.) 



Elk Lake to South-west Pass 165 

to follow. Stalks of wild rice, resembling wheat, rise 
six feet above the water and as a canoeist pushes them 
aside to effect passage they envelop him in their writh- 
ing embrace. A compass is necessarj^, for the only 
visible outlook is the sky. Despite the best of guid- 
ance, we got astray among the grass and sacrificed 
much time in regaining the channel. Leech Lake River 
enters the Mississippi from the westward through this 
meadow and, for that reason, the volume of water it 
supplies is difficult to estimate. 

Darkness had fallen when we landed at White Oak 
Point, where the progress of a lively game of " Mocca- 
sin " was made manifest by a dirge-like chant, issuing 
from a wigwam.^ 

The scenery between White Oak Point and Poke- 
gama Fall is truly picturesque. Hills rise abruptly 
from the river and forests crown them. Alternately 
traversing dense woodland and pretty valleys, the half 
day's paddling to the lumber camp at the mouth of 
Pokegama Lake remains a pleasant memory. The 
group of huts, where dwelt the Maine lumbermen, 
seemed a return to civilisation, — the first habitation of 
white men encountered since leaving White Earth. We 
were soon enjoying salt pork, which is exceedingly 
appetising after a long diet on fresh fish, pigeons and 
ducks. Two nights and a whole day were passed with 
these genial hosts; the only return I could make was 

1 Hennepin, Description de la Louisiane, Paris, 1693 (Shea's 
translation, 301), gives a clear account of the Indian game of " Plum 
Stone." It was played as craps are thrown to-day with dice. The 
plum pits were marked and the better had an even chance at guessing 
which side fell upward. The game of " Moccasin," which I found 
to be the Chippewa gambling game, is not mentioned in any of the 
Jesuit " Relations " so far as noticed. 



i66 The Mississippi 

to act as bearer of mail to the nearest post-office, at 
Muddy River, or Aikin, about three hundred miles 
down-stream. 

The morning we left, the young woman with whom 
we had parted in the Itasca foot-hills paddled into 
camp, attended by her brother. They were much ema- 
ciated and worn; but the girl appeared glad to have 
overtaken us. In simple language, she told how they two 
had hurried down-stream from the A-ze-wa-wa-say-ta- 
gen landing to the mouth of the Marquette River and, 
examining every timber tract, had ascended it to the 
dividing ridge betw^een Leech and Itasca lakes. Cross- 
ing to the latter, they had followed us along the rocky 
river bed. They had seen many trees blazed by me 
with the Greek letter " delta," for " Delta Kappa Epsi- 
lon," — although the girl called it " a triangle," — and 
had used our camp sites on more than one occasion. 
Among the Itasca hills, they had found the body of 
the timber-cruiser. Records of his discoveries w^ere in 
his rubber tobacco-pouch, placed there by this faithful 
servant, in face of death. 

" We found him, as I said we would," were her 
w^ords, with a long sigh, " but dead." 

IX — POKEGAMA TO ST. ANTHONY 

The Mississippi above Pokegama Fall narrows to 
sixty feet in wddth. Restricted to these limits by a 
rock}'^ bluff on the northern side, the river slides down 
the face of a limestone ledge, over twenty feet in height 
and standing at an angle of thirty-five degrees. It is 
not a " fall," in strict sense. Where the water takes 







^ 






Elk Lake to South-west Pass 167 

the " toboggan," the stream was divided at the time of 
my visit by a mass of rock, upon which a few spruce 
pines clung with surprising tenacity; not an ounce of 
soil was visible, — the trees doubtless drew their sus- 
tenance from the river. This obstructing rock has been 
removed. Rapid water at the top of the fall had to 
be crossed to reach the portage; the prospect of in- 
voluntarily " shooting the chute " was not pleasant. 
Why the carry was not made on the right bank was not 
explained. 

The Pokegama portage is less than two hundred 
yards and easy. This fall is an impenetrable barrier 
to navigation by small steamers, until the government 
builds a series of locks around it. Thrice each summer, 
in my day, a stern- wheeler of the type that " runs in 
a heavy dew " came up from Aiken with supplies for 
the lumber camps and trading posts; but to-day rail- 
roads have penetrated to the locality. A prosperous 
town has developed at Grand Rapids, four miles below 
Pokegama, at the " Thundering Rapids." The United 
States Government has erected a barrage near that 
point, for the control of the river. 

Pokegama Lake, five miles long, having its outlet 
at the head of the fall, was the site of one of the mis- 
sions located in the Mississippi lake region during the 
first half of the nineteenth centurj^ Hither came Rev. 
Frederick Ayer, from Massachusetts, in 1836, and upon 
the natives that gathered about this sanctuary the 
Sioux fell, in 1840, to avenge wrongs they claimed had 
been inflicted upon them by the Chippewas. Their 
principal complaint was that two of Little Crow's sons 
had been murdered. The Chippewas insisted that the 
young men had been killed in self-defence. When the 



1 68 The Mississippi 

Sioux were known to be in the neighbourhood, the Chip- 
pewas sent their women and children to an island in 
Pokegama Lake and beat off their ancient enemies. 
The winter of 1850-51 at Cass, Leech, Pokegama, and 
Sandy lakes was one of great suffering. The crop of 
wild rice had been very poor the preceding fall and 
starvation existed in all native villages. Chippewas ate 
their children. 

Experienced woodmen, who had made the trip, es- 
timated the distance from Pokegama to Sandy Lake at 
one hundred and fifty miles: we easily traversed it in 
two days, camping the first night at Split-Hand River, 
after a run of sixty-eight miles. We ran through the 
" Thundering," or " Grand," rapids and the river main- 
tains a strong current all the distance. It was a long, 
uninteresting trip, through an alluvial region, its timber 
worthless for any purpose except fuel. 

Starting from Split-Hand camp at five o'clock, un- 
der a blue sky, we soon entered a region of pine forest. 
Flocks of pigeons rose at every bend of the river; we 
bagged a large mess. A few ducks were overtaken, 
but they were of the " hell-diver " variety and difficult 
to shoot. 

An entirely new danger menaced us. The river 
abounded in floating logs on their way to the saw-mills 
at Minneapolis. Landing for breakfast, at the mouth 
of Swan River, our Chippewa stepped upon a nest of 
small snakes, the first we had encountered. His fright 
was surprising; one would have supposed that, raised 
in the forest, an Indian would not entertain unfriendly 
feelings for fellow-citizens of the wilderness. A charge 
of shot put the snakes out of suspense, but the native 
belaboured the nest for several minutes. We break- 




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Elk Lake to South-west Pass 169 

fasted sumptuously upon pigeons and biscuits, with salt 
pork, brought from the lumber camp. 

Swan River is a large stream, entering the Missis- 
sippi on the eastern bank and is navigable for canoes 
ninety miles, due north to Swan Lake. During the 
forenoon's progress, the track of a tornado, locally 
described as " a windfall," was passed. 

We slept that night at the mouth of Sandy Lake 
River, upon the floor of Mr. Libby's historic trading 
post. " Libby's " has been known for three generations 
as the point of portage for the " Big Sea Water " 
(Lake Superior), reached by descending the turbulent 
St. Louis River. The eastward trip is made in two 
days; the westward in three, owing to the dalles of the 
St. Louis. Sandy Lake is a body of water three miles 
across and contains many small islands. 

From Sandy Lake to Muddy River was an easy 
day's run. Two stretches of rapid water were en- 
countered between the mouths of Cypress and Willow 
rivers. The latter stream, about forty miles below 
Libby's, possesses historical importance because Lieu- 
tenant Zebulon M. Pike ascended it when he visited 
Leech Lake in 1805. The forests are dense, but their 
timber is worthless for lumber. Muddy River to 
Brainerd occupied one day. The River of the Pines, 
two hundred feet wide, enters the Mississippi from the 
north and an island divides its waters at the mouth. 
Pine ridges are supplanted by bottom-land, growing 
elm, ash, oak, and maple. Tall, slender trees, recalling 
the cypress but really Lombardy poplars, that have 
been numerous, become more and more scarce until they 
disappear from the landscape. Five miles below Pine 
River are six islands. Beltrami, always classical, named 



lyo The Mississippi 

the centre one " Cythrea." He says, in describing the 
place, " Only a temple is wanting to make of it another 
Cythrea " — the island of Venus. The French Rapids 
were hardly noticeable, owing to high water. This 
swift spot is about twenty miles above Brainerd and 
marks the northern limit of that tract of primitive rock 
described as " yetiies roches." The mouth of a stream 
known as the Nokassippi enters the Mississippi at the 
end of those rapids. Twilight was settling over Brain- 
erd as a landing was made under the Northern Pacific 
railroad bridge. 

We had returned to civilisation. There my Troy- 
built Baden-Powell canoe awaited me. The guide and 
Chippewa carrier were paid off and sent by rail to Oak 
Lake station. Next afternoon, I paddled alone to Fort 
Ripley, where I became the guest of its Commandant, 
Captain McCaskey. 

Next day was a strenuous one, during which I parted 
with my long-while companions, the pines. Little Falls, 
jammed with logs, was portaged. A waggon carried 
the trim canoe through the village to a point below the 
rough water. Pike Rapids were " run," owing to wil- 
ful misinformation regarding landmarks of the ap- 
proaches to that dangerous stretch of river. I had 
been advised to watch for an island with two trees upon 
it, and to go ashore on the western bank: but when 
I passed the island, the speed of the current precluded 
all possibility of making a landing. If attempted, I 
would be drawn, side on, into the foaming rapid. The 
" falls " are caused by ledges of rock, many sharp points 
serving to tear the stream into ribbons. Safety lay in 
a try at the deepest looking watery chute. Sitting 
astride the canoe, behind the cock-pit, — as I remembered 



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k 








St. Anthony Fall. 
From a photograph taken in 1872. 




A View of Fort Snelliug, Showing' the Round House 

and the Original Stockade. 

Photo, in 1872. 



Elk Lake to South-west Pass 171 

MacGregor did on the Rob Roy, — to raise the bow, I 
steered straight for the crest of a big roller that, ap- 
parently, hid a smooth-topped boulder. Fortunately, 
the canoe's keel bore a strip of steel, for, at railroad 
speed, it struck. The shock was tremendous, but the 
crew clung by his heels, as he would have done to a 
bare-back horse. A barrel of water was taken aboard ; 
but as there was a recurrence of rapids for half a mile, 
bailing was impossible. There was not any danger, 
but an upset would have entailed loss of property. 
Great sport! 

The land became prairie. I camped on a small 
island, only separated from the west bank by a narrow 
channel; but, hearing the bark of a dog, I launched the 
boat in search of a human habitation. It was found 
near Brockway and I slept on a feather bed that night. 
I got under way early, and as a stiff breeze was blow- 
ing down-stream, sailed at single reef for ten miles. 
Coming out from the end of an island, a squall struck 
me, jibed the boom, and an upset was narrowly averted. 
Handling a main sheet and steering with a double- 
bladed paddle is not as easy as it looks. Then came 
rough water above Wautab, and sail had to be taken 
in. This was done by unstepping the mainmast. The 
rapids were child's play. There is a three-mile bend 
in the river at this point at which a cut-off of a hund- 
red feet would save the entire distance. As I was alone, 
I could not portage, although the point had been clearly 
indicated. Reaching Sauk Rapids, I contracted with 
a teamster to carry me -around the bad water; but a 
riverman assured me I could run through if I impli- 
citly followed his advice, owing to the height of the 
stream. He drew a rough map. I removed from the 



172 The Mississippi 

canoe the sails, the gun, and everything portable and 
kept faith with the waggoner by having him carry these 
articles to a point below the village. I then walked 
to a landing from which the rapids could be closely 
studied. My adviser, the riverman, pointed out a 
place near the centre of the stream where the water 
went through a depression in the rocky ledge. It 
looked safe, provided I could reach the middle of the 
river, without being carried abeam into the foaming 
waters. He advised that I pull up-stream for a short 
distance. 

This having been done, the canoe was headed direct 
for the big chute in midstream. The noise of the 
water was terrifying ; but I went through without strik- 
ing. Considerable water was taken aboard, and I fear 
my cheeks were a trifle pale when I pulled ashore to 
get the traps from the wagjgon. Half a dozen men 
who had accompanied the teamster made remarks about 
my adviser that were not complimentary. But they 
overlooked the fact that I had been running through 
rapids all way down-stream. 

St. Cloud, on a bluff to the westward, presented a 
charming appearance. Its tall church spires shone 
beautifully in the sun. 

The country became an elevated plateau and the 
banks increased in height. Prairie still exists on the 
eastern bank but on the west, where the land slopes down 
to the shore, is a continuous fringe of maples and pop- 
lars. These trees shade the western bank from Sauk 
Rapids to Anoka. The river swarmed with logs and 
lumbermen were met at eveiy village. I stopped for 
luncheon at Bailey's at the mouth of Elk River, — im- 
portant as marking the northern limits of Hennepin's 




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Elk Lake to South-west Pass 173 

and Carver's explorations. Between that village and 
Anoka rapid water is constantly encountered. 

Anoka is a snug town- on the eastern side, at the 
mouth of Rum River, a stream one hundred and sixty 
feet wide and the outlet of JLes Mille Lacs, or Thousand 
Lakes, as the large, island-studded pond south of Aikin 
is known. Canoes can ascend Rum River one hundred 
and ten miles. Mille Lacs was discovered by Du Luth, 
and by him named Lac Buade in honour of Frontenac, 
Governor of Canada, whose family name was Buade. 

Every mile developed a larger quantity of floating 
logs and in rapid water these are not agreeable com- 
panions. At such time, one recalls the fable of ^sop 
about the drifting jars of earthenware and brass. Al- 
ready the stream seemed gathering strength for its mad 
plunge at St. Anthony and about four miles above the 
cataract, I took a train into Minneapolis. The Dolly 
and her crew were soon resting at the Nicollet 
House. 

The picture shows how St. Anthony looked at that 
time. 

'Professor Winchell, a physicist who has made a 
study of the geology of the Upper Mississippi, con- 
cludes that the cataract at St. Anthony has worked 
back from Fort Snelling, eight miles, since the glacial 
period, or five thousand years, and that the time re- 
quired to cut the Mississippi channel from Cape Girar- 
deau to St. Anthony was four hundred thousand years. 
The rock from the fall down to the mouth of the 
Wisconsin River is St. Lawrence limestone, and the 
stratum averages two hundred feet in thickness. Ac- 
cording to John Arnold Keyes, St. Anthony is "the 
remnant of the most stupendous cataract the world ever 



174 The Mississippi 

saw, having a perpendicular descent of six hundred 
feet." There is a fall in the Yosemite Valley with a 
perpendicular drop of fifteen hundred feet but the 
volume of water is insignificant. The Victoria, on the 
Zambesi, is one thousand yards wide and has a sheer 
descent of three hundred and sixty feet. Therefore, 
" if his [Mr. Keyes's] theory, be correct, his statement is 
not exaggerated." The Sioux called the fall Ha-lia, 
the " loud laughing " or " roaring." The JMississippi 
they described, according to Gordon, as the Ha-ha- 
Wd-kpa, " River of the Falls." The Chippewa name 
for the fall was Ka-kd-hik-kung. 

'The cities of Minneapolis and Saint Paul are one 
in interest, and ultimately will be united under one 
corporate title, — just as are Brooklyn and INIanhattan. 
Opposition to such union is shared equally by the two 
cities. For nearly a generation, Brooklyn balked at 
uniting with New York. " The Twin-Cities," as they 
describe themselves, are the immediate market for the 
largest wheat growing section of this country. The 
centre of JNIinneapolis is only seven miles in a straight 
line from that of Saint Paul. 

Minnesota is larger in area than all New England. 
It is the watershed of the continent. The great rivers 
that drain it have their rise only a few miles apart and 
radiate east, north, and south. The St. Lawrence 
drains the eastern slope, the Red River of the North 
the northern, and the Mississippi the middle and south- 
ern sections. The highest elevation is one thousand 
six hundred and eighty feet above the sea level. Min- 
nesota is the Land of Lakes. Dr. Day, of Saint Paul, 
calculated that three and one half acres of every one 
hundred acres, or one million six hundred and one thou- 




View from Red Wiug, Looking t^outh. 




View from Barn Bluff. 



Elk Lake to South-west Pass 175 

sand eight hundred and forty acres, are of inland lake 
surface. 



X — FORT SNELLING TO SAINT LOUIS 

After reposing upon cushions in the hotel parlour 
during the night, the Dolly was taken in a waggon to 
the river front at the southern end of Minneapolis and 
launched. Passing the mouth of Minnehaha Creek, 
I was able to paddle nearly up to the fall; a short walk 
was necessary. Returning to the Mississippi, the 
frowning and picturesque heights of Fort Snelling 
dominated the landscape. This imposing and romantic 
fortress, sole reminder of the long struggle with man 
and nature for possession of the North-west, is still 
calculated to cause a heart-thrill. Its white stone walls 
cling to the brink of a precipitous cliff, and over all, 
upon a tall staff, floats the flag of our country. The 
entrance of the Minnesota River, at Mendota, a Dakota 
word for "meeting of the waters," is very imposing; 
the mouths of the IMissouri and Ohio surpass the Min- 
nesota in volume but not in scenic effect. Finding a 
favouring breeze, the mast was stepped and a speedy 
sail to Saint Paul followed.^ One of the rowing clubs 
offered the hospitality of its boat-house and the crew 
rested at a hotel for two days. 

^The Mississippi scenery between Saint Paul and 
Keokuk is as beautiful as that of any river in the world. 
The Hudson has higher mountains, the Rhine its his- 
toric ruins, the Seine its artistic chateaux, the Danube 
its " Iron Gates," and the Colorado its canon; but, for 

1 Carver's cave, at Saint Paul, was known to the Dakotas as " the 
sacred lodge" (Neill, 207). It is now a beer cellar. 



176 The Mississippi 

five hundred miles, our own greatest river passes 
through a variety of scenery attractive to the eye and 
romantically associated with the early development of 
our republic. The river banks below Saint Paul are 
high bluffs on the east and beautiful lowlands on the 
west. 

Leaving the club, where my canoe had been housed 
most hospitably, I sailed and paddled to Hastings, 
thirty-two miles, by one o'clock. Finding a breeze, I 
sailed about two miles below Prescott where the wind 
died out. The beauty of the landscape to the east- 
ward grew with each bend of the river. Diamond 
Bluff, the end of the day's run, has for background a 
charming, rocky precipice. 

In the absence of any breeze next morning, I 
tugged at the paddle as far as Red Wing, famous in 
song and story as the site of the village of a tribe hav- 
ing a chief of that name. The town is prettily located 
on the western bank; the view therefrom, shown in 
the photograph, is one with which the eye does n't tire. 

Then comes the grand expansion of the river known 
as Lake Pepin, twenty-five miles long by three to five 
in width. Not an island in it. High looms the bare 
front of the Maiden Rock, grand in nature and fasci- 
nating in romance. Every passenger upon steamers 
and trains is told the tale anew. I heard it at every 
hamlet upon the lake: it represents tourist capital. 
Ever since the time of the Tarpeian Rock, precipitous 
cliffs have served for the immolation of real or mythical 
maidens. The story of Winona's self-destruction gen- 
erally takes this form: The Dakotas and Chippewas 
were engaged in bloody warfare about the close of the 
eighteenth century. Red Wing, chief of the Dakota 







The Maideu Rock, Lake I'epin. 







The Author's '' Baden-rowell " Canoe. 



Elk Lake to South-west Pass 177 

tribe on Lake Pepin, had for daughter Winona, tradi- 
tionally beautiful. She had many suitors but she re- 
jected all the braves of her own people, having secretly 
pledged herself to a son of Wahnabozah, chief of the 
Chippewas and the hereditary foe of her father. With 
the opening of spring, Red Wing called a council of 
war and asked the aid of all tribes among the Dakotas. 
The most powerful young chief, who had come from 
far up the Mississippi, Wazikoota by name, demanded 
Winona for wife as the price of his assistance and Red 
Wing acceded to the conditions. 

The Indian girl had a stolen interview with her 
Chippewa lover, informed him of her father's plans, and 
they agreed that as soon as the decisive battle had 
been fought they would meet atop this rock and flee to 
the Red River country. The lovers were spied upon, 
the Chippewa brave was pursued and killed. When 
Wazikoota turned to claim Winona, she ran to the edge 
of the cliff and with a despairing shriek cast herself 
headlong upon the rocks below. The Indian legend 
asserts that the angry Spirit of the Lake caused a great 
wave to sweep to the base of the hill w^hich, returning, 
bore the bodies of the lovers to a grave beneath the 
waters.^ 

A dehghtful sail across the lake to the pretty village 
of Frontenac followed. Pepin is an enlargement of 
the Mississippi twenty-five miles in length and no- 

1 Col. John W. Bliss, son of Major John Bliss, U. S. A., who 
passed his boyhood at Fort Snelling, tells of having to tie up for 
two days in Lake Pepin, at the base of " Maiden Rock " (then called 
"The Lovers' Leap"). He was travelling with his parents to the 
post to which his father had been assigned, on the stern-wheeler 
Warrior, which made two trips each summer from Saint Louis to 
Fort Snelling. 



178 The Mississippi 

where more than five miles in width. Its general direc- 
tion is towards the south-east and its form is that of 
an extended line of beauty. A range of low hills ex- 
tends into the lake from the west which the steamboat 
men call " Point No Point," for the reason that, hour 
after hour, it looks like a headland but proves to be 
only a continuous bluff. Frontenac, called a watering 
place, is just below Point No Point. The French, 
under M. Frontenac, drove the Reynards from the Wis- 
consin up the Mississippi and built a stockade on the 
west bank near Point de Sable. Lake Pepin, as seen 
from the rocky hill above Frontenac, is shown in the 
photograph. 

From Frontenac, I again crossed the lake to a small 
hamlet about one mile above Reed's Landing where I 
spent the night. In the morning, against a head wind, 
I pulled ten miles to Wabashaw for breakfast. 

" Wah-pah-sah " was the hereditary name of a long 
and illustrious line of Dakota ( Sioux) chiefs. " Waba- 
shaw " is the white man's pronunciation. The name is 
descriptive of the pole used in the Sioux dances, upon 
which, like a May pole, feathers and coloured cloths 
were fastened. Therefore, Wapasa meant "The Stand- 
ard," not " The Leaf Shaker," as has been suggested. 
The principal village of these aboriginal forest barons 
was Ke-uk-sa, the present site of Winona. Stephen 
R. Riggs, author of The Dakota Grammar^ saj'^s, " Ke- 
uk-sa means * Village of Law Breakers,' so described 
because this band disregarded the custom of the Dakota 
nation against marrying blood relations of any degree." 
Wapasa, grandfather of the last chief of that name, was 
a friend of the British during the American Revolution.^ 

1 Neill's History of Minnesota, 225-229. 




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Elk Lake to South-west Pass 179 

Here was beautiful prairie, still within the Minne- 
sota border. Here was the capital of " The Standard " 
tribe of the Sioux. 

A strong wind blew against the current all day, 
making the paddling laborious. The water was so 
rough that I could not land at Almy but proceeded 
to Buffalo, remembered solely as the site of a saw-mill 
and a beer-garden. As the wind increased, so did the 
blisters upon my hands. Mount Vernon, eighteen 
miles, was passed at one o'clock and a luncheon of cove 
oysters, hard bread, and coffee was eaten on the river 
side. After waiting in vain for the wind to moderate, 
I paddled eleven miles to Fountain City. 

The scenery on both sides of the river is magnificent, 
but the heaviness of the work at the paddle prevented 
its entire enjoyment. The little German town of Foun- 
tain City nestles at the foot of a hill and seemed very 
comfortable in the warmth of the afternoon's sun. Al- 
though I had hoped to reach Winona before dark, I 
spent the night there and the beer tasted as good that 
night as any I subsequently have drunk in Munich. 
The hospitality of the Wisconsin town was agreeable. 
My boat was carried from the warehouse, where it had 
been kept under lock during the night, and I started 
down the river at nine o'clock. 

Not far from Winona is the picturesque " Sugar 
Loaf." It casts a very heavy shadow across the river 
in the early morning, as will be seen from the photo- 
graph. A sandy beach runs along its base. A brief 
stop was made at Winona to mail letters, after which 
I paddled to Trempealeau. 

At half -past five, I stepped ashore at La Crosse, 
at the end of a dashing sail, carrying all canvas, and 



i«o 



The Mississippi 



the much admired canoe was taken to the parlour of the 
International Hotel. The river is almost four miles 
wide at La Crosse owing to innumerable islands and 
channels. A start was made at six o'clock next morn- 
ing. Brownsville was reached at ten and a stop for 
the night was made at Lansing, after paj'^ing a visit 
to the supposed grave of Minnehaha at De Soto on 
the Wisconsin bank. 

Lansing, on the Iowa side, lies at the foot of the 
usual range of bluffs. The day was fine and hugging 
the Iowa bank to avoid numerous channels made by 
countless islands, I paddled all the way to McGregor, 
opposite Prairie du Chien. The upper town of McGre- 
gor first came in sight to the south of a long stretch 
of water. The levee was found very rocky. After 
luncheon at the Evans House, I crossed the river to 
Prairie du Chien, the oldest town on the Mississippi, 
dating back to the time of Pere IMarquette. The 
modern city is not exactly where Father Marquette 
saw the prairie dogs. At Fort Crawford, — " Prairie- 
Dogtown," as described in a report on file at the War 
Department, — Colonel Zachary Taylor, then a recog- 
nised Indian fighter and afterwards to carve his way 
to the Presidency by success in the Mexican War, was 
in command for several years, dating from 1833. He 
had then served in the Sauk and Fox campaigns. 

The Wisconsin, where it joins the Mississippi, is 
imposing, but historical associations give to it pre- 
eminent importance. Very little imagination was 
necessary to see, in mind's eye, the figures of grave- 
visaged missionaries and the strong, daring counte- 
nances of French traders in canoes emerging from the 
river's mouth. 




Lake Pepin, Looking North from Point No Point. 



Elk Lake to South-west Pass i8rr 

Below Prairie du Chien, the scenery becomes of 
picturesque grandeur. Lofty bluffs appear on each 
side, some of rock, others alluvial, having similitude 
to ruined castles, Saracen watch-towers like those seen 
upon the Sardinian and Spanish shores of the Medi- 
terranean, and grotesque figures of gigantic size. 
In places, these bluffs attain a height of six hundred 
feet; many of them are coloured by various mineral 
deposits and are often crowned with clumps of chest- 
nut and oak. 

I paddled into Guttenberg, Iowa, at dark and spent 
the night at the Crawford House, — the day's voyage 
being forty-six miles. Next day was the Sabbath but 
there did not seem to be any observance thereof, so, 
after breakfast, I decided to proceed to Dubuque. The 
scenery began to lose many of its charms. The 
bluffs, cheerful companions since leaving Minneapolis, 
began to melt into the prairie. A light breeze spring- 
ing up, sail was set and the fifteen-mile run from 
Cassville to Wells' Landing was made in two hours. 
After a stop for luncheon, the voyage was resumed 
without incident to Dubuque. In the afternoon sun, 
the church spires and pretty villas of this flourishing 
city could be seen on rising ground far inland. The 
water-side part of the town appeared common enough. 
I proceeded down-stream and passed the night at a 
white frame cottage on the Illinois bank where I was 
hospitably received. My canoe was stored in the 
carriage-house. 

Next day, being overcast, with a fair wind down- 
stream, I paddled and sailed to Sabula, forty-eight 
miles, without incident. The following day, I pro- 
ceeded as far as Le Claire, forty-seven miles. An early 



1 82 The Mississippi 

start was made next morning, because I expected to 
enjo}^ running the Rock Island Rapids. I arrived at 
the head of the rapid water about nine o'clock and had 
passed through several miles of it before I realised its 
character. The length of the rapid is fourteen miles, 
or from Rock Island to Port Byron on the Illinois 
side. According to Captain R. E. Lee, U. S. En- 
gineers, the fall in the river is 25.74 feet. The Mis- 
sissippi flows over a bed of limestone, the ledges of 
which sometimes reach quite across the river. In times 
of very shallow water, one might possibly incur some 
danger in running the Rock Island Rapids; but I had 
followed the spring freshet down and had a thoroughly 
enjoyable hour among the swift currents. 

The shores are generally prairie above Rock Island 
and the background well timbered. Davenport, with 
a charming range of sloping hills behind it, formed a 
fine landscape. Muscatine was the halting place for 
the night. The next day was intolerably warm and 
the trip to Burlington, sixty-two miles, was very 
arduous. 

Here followed one of the red letter days of the 
voyage. Starting from Burlington at nine o'clock, I 
followed the Iowa shore hoping to secure a sailing breeze, 
but the wind was blowing up-stream and this made the 
heat more endurable. Bluffs reappeared on the west 
and soon grew to almost the magnitude they had pos- 
sessed about Lake Pepin. Charming little green islands 
were scattered in the stream. As the meal hour ap- 
proached, I came to a little town, the water front of 
which was lined with rafts. Upon one of these, I saw 
a frame boarding-house and immediately applied for 
entertainment. The landlord was an Irishman and fed 




Great t^pirit Blutl", uear Aiiua, Wiscou.siu. 
Photo, by E. J. Hall, Oak Park, 111. 



Elk Lake to South-west Pass 183 

me on boiled beef and dried peaches. The meat was 
tough, but the appetite was indulgent. 

I set out for Nauvoo. The imposing site had been 
described to me, but its beauty far exceeded expecta- 
tions. I beached my canoe under the bluff about five 
o'clock, at a point from which a path led up the slope 
to a red brick hotel. There I found a hale and refined 
old lady, Mrs. Joseph Smith, widow of the founder of 
Mormonism. She was mistress of the tavern. After 
supper, she and I sat upon the brow of the bluff, with 
the mighty Mississippi flowing between us and the 
Iowa shore, while I listened to her narrative of the ter- 
rible privations and persecutions of early Mormon days. 
Mrs. Smith's conversation is very memorable, due to 
the romantic surroundings and especially to the ex- 
cellence of its English. Nauvoo cannot be dismissed 
in a few words. It belongs to the history of religion 
in the Mississippi Valley, and its romantic features 
equal those of the missionary priests who devoted their 
lives to the dissemination of doctrines in which they 
devoutly believed. 

Nauvoo is the sacred town of Momionism: to true 
believers, it is what Benares is to Buddhism and Mecca 
to Islam. The Mormon idea — older than Joseph 
Smith, who gave to it form and direction — was a 
product of several communistic movements that began 
between 182Q and 1830, in various parts of the Eastern 
States. This farmer's son, living at different periods 
of his boyhood near Palmyra and Manchester, in west- 
ern New York, saw visions, had dreams, and practised 
healing by faith. His father, mother, and maternal 
grandfather had asserted similar unusual powers. 
There is a quaint " chap-book " in the Berrian Collec- 



1 84 The Mississippi 

tion, published by one Solomon INIack (Windsor, 
Canada, 1810), which foreshadows the neurotic con- 
ditions that developed in Joseph Smith. 

Solomon Mack was an illiterate, shiftless man who 
described himself as " a wild ass's colt," and his 
daughter, Lucy Mack, became the mother of Joseph 
Smith. The boy grew up in an atmosphere of unreality 
and probably inherited a taint of epilepsy. Solomon 
Mack confessed to " frequent fits." Smith's mother 
was a mental freak. She implicitly believed in dreams. 
Thus, the founder of JNIormonism was a product of 
atavism; his erratic temperament was inherited. Jour- 
nals left by Mrs. Lucy Smith foreshadow the recent 
work of Mrs. Mary Baker-Eddy. They were pub- 
lished in Liverpool (1853), and are of undeniable 
authenticity. 

Joseph Smith, Senior, came as a colonist from New 
England to the property of the Holland Land Com- 
pany, owners of a large tract west of Seneca Lake, in 
New York. Palmyra had only four log houses. In 
this environment, Lucy Smith raised her children. For 
a brief period, the Smiths lived at JNIanchester, a place 
equally desolate: but at Palmyra, the son, Joseph, be- 
gan to argue and to exhort whenever he could secure 
hearers. On day, he announced the finding of a set 
of golden plates, upon which were inscribed " The 
teachings of Nephi, his reign and ministry." 

" The Book of Mormon " appeared in 1830, printed 
by E. B. Grandin, for the author, at Palmyra. 

After Smith's followers had migrated to Kirtland, 
Ohio; thence (1838) to the town of Far West, Mis- 
souri, where relentless persecution culminated in the 
massacre of twenty people at Plaun's Mill, we find 







o 



Elk Lake to South-west Pass 185 

them at ISTauvoo, on the IlHnois bank of the Mississippi. 
Already Orson Pratt was preaching the faith in Eng- 
land and sending to America a constantly increasing 
stream of converts. 

\!The site of Nauvoo probabty is the most beautiful 
on "the Father of Waters." A majestic bluff, over- 
looking the broad river, and a vast stretch of level 
country behind it, affords ample room for a city of 
vast proportions. Had the Mormons not been ruth- 
lessly driven to the Great Salt Lake, a city equal in 
beauty, wealth, and industry to the capital of Utah 
would stand upon this commanding eminence to-day, 
adding to the pride of the State and nation. Here the 
sect thoroughly organised for the first time. The ori- 
ginal title of the boat-landing had been " Commerce " ; 
but Smith renamed it " Nauvoo," or " The beautiful." 
A large tract of land was purchased for $14,000, and 
broad streets were laid out, crossing each other at right 
angles. A busy, thriving town developed. Two hund- 
red houses and many public edifices were built. In 
1841, Smith had a revelation, directing that a great 
temple be built. Underneath the land a fine quality 
of limestone had been discovered and quarries were 
opened, from which material was procured to build the 
temple. The corner-stone was laid with much cere- 
mony in 1841. The structure was of polished stone, 
one hundred and thirty-eight feet long, eighty-eight 
feet wide, and sufficiently capacious to accommodate 
three thousand people. It was surmounted by a tower 
rising one hundred and seventy-five feet, and its inte- 
rior decorations were costly. The total expenditures 
exceeded $500,000. 

I Nauvoo soon had a population of ten thousand 



1 86 The Mississippi 

people, and Joseph Smith was supreme in authority. 
With prosperity came internal dissensions among the 
Mormons and many malicious reports were circulated 
regarding Smith's moral character. He was accused 
of having " spiritual wives," although that part of the 
INIormon doctrine had not been propounded. The en- 
tire population of Illinois eventually divided on Mor- 
mon and anti-Mormon sentiment. Smith's bitterest 
opponents and critics were Dr. Foster and Mr. Law, 
editors of The Nauvoo Expositor: they published so 
many attacks upon Smith that Ke ordered their print- 
ing-office burned. These editors got warrants for the 
arrest of Joseph and Hiram Smith, but the constable 
was driven out of town when he tried to serve the 
papers. Conditions became so strained that Governor 
Ford sent a demand from Springfield for the surrender 
of the Smith brothers. He feared to call out the 
militia, knowing that bloodshed would ensue. 

Joseph Smith expressed a willingness to submit to 
the authority of the State government, at the same 
time declaring that he believed he would be a victim 
of mob fury. The Governor promised protection and 
the two men surrendered themselves at Carthage. 
They were incarcerated in the jail at that place. On 
June 27, 1844, a mob gathered which broke into the 
prison and shot the two men to death. It was a very 
brutal outrage. 

The assassination of Joseph Smith strengthened 
Mormonism. Alive, he may have been an imposter; 
dead, he became a martyr. His biographers have 
found many difficulties in arriving at a correct estimate 
of Joseph Smith. He was a remarkable man, pos- 
sessed of superior natural talent and of much executive 




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Elk Lake to South-west Pass 187 

ability. Under unceasing persecutions and constant 
hardships, he established a combination of thrift and 
religion that has endured in Utah unto this day. 

At the time of his first alleged revelation, there were 
forty-three separate sects of the Christian religion in 
this country. The land resounded with the hysterical 
ciy, "What must we do to be saved?" Appeal for 
salvation was so general that Smith found hundreds of 
followers, when, at any other period, he would not have 
secured scores. Smith was either a sincere religious 
fanatic, or a remarkable imposter. 

The grave and imposing stone temple at Nauvoo, 
upon which the faithful had laboured so devotedly, was 
burned by anti-Mormons in 1848. With Brigham 
Young as their leader, the Mormons trekked across the 
plains to the Great Salt Lake and established, at 
"Deseret," a new home, which their energies have caused 
to bloom. Their new city was laid out upon lines 
similar to those adopted at Nauvoo. 

After the exodus of the main body of the " Latter 
Day Saints," Nauvoo became the seat of a sect of 
French Socialists calling themselves " Icarians." Re- 
pudiating the new leader, Brigham Young, the widow 
of Joseph Smith remained behind, to end her days at 
the scene of her beloved husband's preaching and only 
a few miles from the place of his murder. She re- 
married, when past middle life, and I was introduced 
to her husband. 

" Joseph Smith never suggested or practised poly- 
gamy," said the aged lady, with a directness born of 
sincere belief. " He was a devoted and faithful hus- 
band. The blemish of polygamy was engrafted upon 
Mormonism, which was a pure, gentle, trusting faith, 



i88 The Mississippi 

— ^beautiful as the behefs of the ancient Greeks, — ^by 
Brigham Young and Orson Pratt, after my husband's 
cruel assassination." 

*' You love this place and his memory so deeply 
that you would not trek to far-away Utah? " I asked. 

" Not altogether that. I was a devout believer in 
the faith as disclosed by Joseph Smith; but I would 
not follow false prophets." 

After breakfast, next morning, I visited the site of 
the great temple, a ploughed field. Not a villager ap- 
peared to realise a lost opportunity. Wayfarer as I 
was, I could have lingered for hours watching the grand 
river that I had seen grow from a brook. 

The pull to Keokuk, nineteen miles, was made 
through rapid water; but I would not have known I 
was descending a fall had I not noticed a steamer as- 
cending through a lock on the Iowa side. The dis- 
tance was covered in about ninety minutes. Although 
the heat was intense I pushed on to Canton, twenty- 
four miles farther. I landed on the Iowa shore at half- 
past two, utterly fagged. I was twenty miles from 
Quincy and after waiting until the sun got low, I easily 
made the distance before dark. The following day 
was uneventful. To avoid getting into chutes and 
ponds along the route required watchfulness. I went 
miles out of my way on two occasions. I intended to 
stop at Hannibal for luncheon, but had run by it be- 
fore the error was detected. I stopped three hours at 
Saverton, on account of the intolerable heat, and then 
proceeded to Louisiana, Mo., opposite Quincy junc- 
tion, and spent the night. 

As I was getting ready to start, next morning, the 
steamboat Belle of La Crosse ran on the levee. This 



i4s^ 




" The Sugar Loaf," near ^^'in()lla. 




Trempealeau. 



Elk Lake to South-west Pass 189 

was the second time she had met me since I had left 
Saint Paul. Realising that she would reach Saint 
Louis, a round one hundred miles distant, before dark, 
I decided to dodge sunstroke and take her. My canoe 
was carried aboard and I received a warm welcome from 
the captain. We passed the mouth of the Illinois River, 
sacred to the memories of the early explorers and mis- 
sionaries, at four o'clock, and, after a brief stop at Alton, 
saw the coffee-coloured flood of the Missouri add itself 
to the clear waters of the Mississippi. As far as Saint 
Louis, the western third of the broad river remained 
cafe au lait in hue. Putting the canoe in a warehouse 
near the wharf, I went to the Southern. 

XI BY STEAMBOAT TO NEW ORLEANS 

The voyage from Saint Louis to New Orleans on 
the steamboat James Howard developed sufficient in- 
cidents to fatten a story book. The boat was only 
partially loaded, because the chief part of the cargo for 
New Orleans was to be received at Cairo, from Ohio 
River craft. This would necessitate a stay at the little 
town in " Egypt," Illinois, and many passengers for 
the lower river preferred to wait in Saint Louis and 
overtake the boat by train. 

Any narrative of a week's hfe upon a Mississippi 
steamboat without gambling experiences would not 
possess the flavour of reality : but the run to Cairo was 
uneventful. The captain was an interesting man who 
had spent forty years on the river. He mentioned the 
suicide of Captain Durkin, of the Minotaur^ who lost 
all his earthly possessions in a game of poker, aboard 
his own boat. The spell of the terrible name borne by 



iQo The Mississippi 

the craft did not impress the captain; but he was very- 
sure that ill luck attended all steamers christened with 
names beginning with " M." The same fatality ap- 
plied to the Missouri River as well as to the Mississippi. 
He cited the cases of the Magnolia, which took fire and 
burned two hundred and twenty-five of her three hund- 
red passengers; of the Metamora, sunk above Choctaw 
Island ; of the Midas, snagged at the bend above Island 
No. 16; of the Mayfloisoer, burnt at Memphis, and of 
several others. He then recurred to Captain Durkin 
and said: 

On a down trip, two well-dressed passengers came aboard 
at Memphis and announced themselves as Louisiana planters. 
That evening, one of these strangers suggested a game of 
poker to the captain. Durkin was fond of " draw " and 
agreed. After play with varying fortune, he was dealt four 
kings. Then he bet all his money and his quarter interest 
in the Minotaur. His opponent showed four aces. Durkin 
signed a bill of sale for his share in the boat, went to his 
stateroom, and shot himself. He left a note, saying : " A 
man who would bet his last dollar on four kings does n't 
deserve standing-room on earth." 

As an exception to popular superstition among 
Mississippi steamboat captains, it may be stated that 
the James Howard was burned soon after the trip that 
served to continue my voyage as far as the Crescent 
City. The explosion of the Sultana's boilers, in 1864, 
had caused a sacrifice of six hundred and forty-seven 
lives, and the Saluda, ending her career in similar 
fashion, destroyed one hundred human beings. 

Train from Saint Louis brought fifty passengers 
for our boat, among whom was a collector for a New 




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Elk Lake to South-west Pass 191 

York house known to me. That afternoon, as we were 
passing Island No. 10 and New Madrid, historically 
interesting, owing to the places they occupy in the re- 
cords of the Civil War, I listened to a gambling episode 
that had occurred to the narrator while ascending the 
Mississippi during the previous winter: 



I never shall touch a card again [he began]. I have 
had my lesson. I arrived at New Orleans from a collection 
tour in Texas, with quite a bunch of money in certified checks 
and cash. Coming too late for banking hours, I carried this 
money aboard the boat, which was to leave at nine o'clock, 
intending to secure a draft at Memphis to the credit of my 
house. I scheduled the checks and mailed them to New York ; 
then I made the bills into a bundle, which I deposited with 
the purser of the steamboat. He was in collusion with gam- 
blers aboard, and before supper, I had been introduced to 
several sleek but respectable-appearing men. A game of poker 
was proposed after the boat got under way, and having several 
hundred dollars of money of my own, I had no objections. 
I thought I could take care of myself. I met a Cincinnati 
salesman aboard, Whitney by name, and persuaded him to 
join us. W^e adjourned to a stateroom from which a four- 
poster bed had been removed and six of us " sat in." 

The game ran along quietly for half an hour, nobody 
making any suggestion to increase the modest five-dollar limit. 
I was ahead about |80. Whitney was a small loser. No 
amount of money worth talking about had changed hands. I 
had my eyes about me, but had failed to detect evidences of 
collusion or cheating on the part of my new acquaintances. 
I played with a feeling of increased confidence, and under 
pretext of getting some cigars from my stateroom, dropped 
out long enough to secure the wad of money from the purser's 
safe. 

There was a " jack pot " soon after my return. The player 
at my left, one of the strangers, was dealing. The first 
man said, " No." The second player " declined to open." 



192 The Mississippi 

The third, Whitney, tossed a blue chip into the centre of the 
table, with the statement: "I open, for the limit!" The 
fourth man, at my right, " chipped along." 

I had a pair of kings and a pair of jacks; so I " hiked it." 
The dealer quit, as did the chap next to him. The second 
player stayed for the $10, as did Whitney. Fourth man saw 
my raise and raised back. I " chipped along," but was sur- 
prised to find strength develop at Number Two, who " tilted 
the pot," as if he meant to stay. Whitney would n't quit. 
When Number Four's turn came, he " made good " and raised ! 
I merely chipped, feeling that I was over-playing two 
pairs. Surely enough, Two " bumped it " ; Whitney quit ; 
Four merely '' stayed " ; I decided to " linger " and take cards. 
This is what the draw revealed: 

Number Two asked for two cards. The logic of that act 
was that he had declined to " open " on threes, or, quite im- 
probably, was holding " a kicker " to a pair. I " read him " 
for threes. 

Number Four's draw was interesting. He took one card, 
ostentatiously placing his discard before him and covering it 
with a chip. Although he had n't " broken the jack," he in- 
tended to give the impression that he had split a pair and 
was about to draw to a straight or flush. I reasoned that if 
he had been given fours " to go in " he would have " stood 
pat," in order to indicate a smaller hand than he actually 
possessed. With the probability of having threes to beat at 
Number Two, and a completed flush at Number Four, I made a 
freak draw. I had a pair of kings, therefore nobody else could 
get four kings. I tossed them away, with the three spot 
of hearts, and drew to the jacks. To my surprise, I was 
given a king and two jacks! That ought to have made me 
wise ; for, don't you see, on the assumption that I would draw 
only one card, the intention of the dealer was that I should 
have a king full, — a very respectable hand. Four jacks, how- 
ever, were different. I would have played a " full " with 
caution : but f-o-u-r-s ! I did n't worry about a straight flush ; 
as for fours, only aces or queens could beat me. I tried to 
look unconcerned, as I awaited the first bet. Whitney being 



Elk Lake to South-west Pass 193 

out, that distinction fell to Number Four. I raised him, heard 
Two raise me and saw Four " hike " it, again, — as he spoke 
of the folly of over-playing a flush. 

Here is where the usual thing occurred. Somebody sug- 
gested " taking off the limit." The passion was on me ; I was 
glad to agree. All the avaricious traits of my character were 
in evidence. I was a different man from the one who had 
entered the game, — a soulless thing, money-mad. 

When Two topped my re-raise of Four's raise by a hundred 
dollars, I was delighted. I was doubly glad when Four added 
another hundred. I pushed two bills across the table to 
" make good " and taking all the rest of my own cash, raised 
|250. I had expected a show-down at this point ; but in the 
half minute of silence that followed, I decided to use the 
money of my firm, if necessary to force a conclusion. Em- 
bezzlement ? Yes ; but at that moment my dying mother could 
not have convinced me I was doing wrong. After unusual 
deliberation, the gamester at my left " saw " Four's hundred, 
my |250, making |350, and added five crisp hundred dollar 
bills to the stake. Cold perspiration appeared on my fore- 
head ; the only choice lay between jail or victory. " Mine are 
as good as they were," commented Four, as he again raised 
another |500. 

A glance at my hand showed that none of the jacks had 
got away; I still held five cards, with the king. My hand 
was n't foul, whether it won or lost. The possibility of a 
straight flush in Four's hand froze the marrow in my bones. 
What could I do but go on? 

It is well enough to say I could have retired with the loss 
of a few hundred dollars and remained honest. Persons who 
reason thus fail to comprehend the passion that swayed me. 
I opened the bulging envelope and spread the bills across a 
knee. It cost me |1000 to " call," but I did so. As I had 
feared. Number Two " saw " his friend's $500 raise and " went 
up " an equal amount. Without an instant's hesitation, Four 
" made good " and raised a plumb thousand. 

I saw two things clearly. First, I was being " saw-bucked " 
by the players alternately raising on either side of me; 



194 The Mississippi 

second, I had probably over-played my fours and could not 
win on a " show-down." I had already embezzled |1000 of my 
employers' funds. Suicide suggested itself, in case I failed 
to win; but I did not have the slightest impulse to quit. 
Meanwhile, Four tossed in |1500, meaning an increase of 
flOOO. 

With swimming eyes, I " saw " the $1500 promptly, fortu- 
nately counting the money in my lap. That meant $2500 of 
the money entrusted to my keeping. But, I made a dis- 
covery ! Upon the back of the envelope, I had written " $3260." 
I had overlooked several sums, and still had $3000 left. I 
could win, if my antagonists hadn't that much between them. 
After my " call," Number Two " made good " Four's raise and 
added $500. Instantly, Four counted out precisely $760, mean- 
ing a " raise " of $260 ! 

My eyes were opened by that bet. I glanced at the back 
of the envelope I had given to the purser, — " 3260." Exactly 
the amount! The fellow wanted my last dollar and wasn't 
afraid of a " show-down." 

Here 's where the catastrophe was to have occurred. I de- 
tected an expression of sarcastic glee on the face of the dealer, 
— who had not joined in the betting but was to be sharer in 
the spoils. Number Two had only a few bills on the table, 
but he appeared to know that he would n't need more. Four 
acted as if he already had my cash in his clutches. He was 
contentedly swinging upon the gate of hell! The satanic leer 
of joy in that man's eyes decided me: I "made good" and 
raised him $2240 ! 

Consternation appeared upon the faces of the three pro- 
fessional gamblers. Number Two leaned over to Whitney and, 
showing to him four aces, begged for enough money to " call." 
Number Four in a low voice asked to have the bet reduced 
to $800,— all the funds he had with him. 
" Never ! " I fairly screamed. 

Four then asked to leave the room to secure money; but, 
at a motion from me, Whitney stepped to the door, and, mak- 
ing sure it was locked, put the key in his pocket. I was 
armed and meant to die rather than let that gang of scoun- 




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Elk Lake to South-west Pass 195 

drels do me. Number Four, the dean of the trio, rose, throw- 
ing down his cards, faces upward. He bowed and said : 

" It is a dead ' freeze-out ' : but your nerve and your money 
win." 

As Whitney showed a pair of queens, his " openers," I saw 
that Number Four had laid down a ten-high, straight flush. 

The James Howard chugged away throughout the 
night and ran her bow upon the levee at Memphis 
shortly after noon of the following day. The city had 
not fully recovered from the effects of the Civil War. 
It was far from being the beautiful place it is to-day. 

Several stops, notably at Helena, were made during 
the night and all the next day was spent " rounding the 
bends " in this crookedest of American rivers. The 
Jordan, in Palestine, is probably the only stream on 
earth containing more convolutions. Although the dis- 
tance from the Lake of Tiberias to the Dead Sea is 
hardly sixty miles, the Jordan uses full two hundred 
miles in making the steep descent. The point of great- 
est interest during that long day's steaming was the 
mouth of the Arkansas River, where is the defunct 
village of Napoleon. Visions of La Salle, Tonty, and 
other early explorers came before my eyes as we steamed 
smoothly past the outlet of this great river. Lost towns 
are scattered along the entire made-lands of the Mis- 
sissippi's delta; but the most notable is this one of 
Napoleon, which from 1844 to 1874 was county seat 
of Desha County, Arkansas, and had eight hundred in- 
habitants in 1860; but, since my visit, the Mississippi 
took a dislike to it and washed away its streets and 
houses. I am assured that to-day the site of this 
ambitious town cannot be identified. 

Amidst the sunlight of the following morning, I 



196 The Mississippi 

caught sight of Vicksburg. Standing at the wheel- 
house, an obhging ex-Confederate pointed out the 
strategic features of the landscape. Especially did he 
indicate the locality near the mouth of the Yazoo, at 
which General Sherman suffered defeat. Our steamer 
carried a great deal of merchandise for Vicksburg, and 
passengers spent until four o'clock visiting places of 
historic interest. Many of the cave dwellings, cut into 
the hard-clay hillsides and occupied during the bom- 
bardment, were still in existence and some of them were 
in use as beer cellars. 

At daylight the following morning, we were at 
Natchez-under-the-Hill : five hours were spent in ram- 
bling about the upper town. Memories of the Spanish, 
French, and English pioneers were awakened by the 
names of many of the streets. I would have liked to 
have seen a few streets or squares bearing the titles of 
the wonderful native chieftains described in the Jesuit 
" Relations." John Hay, an associate on the Tribune , 
had not published Jim Bludso of the Prairie Belle, 
who "had one wife at Natchez and another here in Pike." 
Having read Chateaubriand's Rene and Atala, I sought 
for a monument to Chactas. 

BatonRouge was announced at breakfast and I drove 
over much of the desolated city. Deserted houses were 
numerous. Like Natchez, the streets were paved with 
square, red tiles. Dwellings of the poor were crowded 
among the business houses. The really impressive ob- 
ject of the then former capital of Louisiana was its 
ruined State House, standing as evidence of the ravages 
of the terrible conflict so recently ended. (In 1880, 
this city was again made the capital of the State.) 

The roofless capitol stood upon an eminence at the 




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Elk Lake to South-west Pass 197 

southern end of town, overlooking the broad and placid 
river I had followed for weeks and watched its growth 
from a brooklet to a thing of majesty. It stood in 
grounds filled with blooming shrubs: banana, plantain, 
palmetto, magnolia, and box trees spread their foliage 
over the paths. The stucco with which the brick struc- 
ture was covered gave to the ruin the effect of white 
marble. It belonged to a school of architecture the ex- 
amples of which are more beautiful as ruins than 
as habitations of men. Not a hillock appears below 
Baton Rouge: the bluffs that shone so grandly at 
Vicksburg and Natchez have dwindled to nothing. 
Sugar plantations are well-nigh continuous from the 
mouth of the Red River on the western and Baton 
Rouge on the eastern banks, as far south as Pointe-a-la- 
Hache, fifty miles below New Orleans. In their rear 
are the vast cypress swamps of Louisiana, with their 
moss and vine-laden trees of most funereal aspect. 

During the night, the James Howard tied up at 
her wharf, not far from the foot of Canal Street, New 
Orleans, but most of her passengers remained aboard 
until next day, when, going ashore, I drank water of 
Elk Lake, iced for a mint julep of New Orleans. 

XII — TO THE SEA AND TO NEW YORK 

The steamship George Cromwell, Captain Samuel 
L. Clapp, did not sail for New York until the follow- 
ing Saturday, leaving four days in which to visit many 
interesting places identified with the early history of 
the Mississippi's development. Canal Street is as 
indelibly associated with the " Crescent City " as 
Broadway is with " Gotham." It is a broad, open thor- 



198 The Mississippi 

oughfare into which a visitor inevitably drifts, no matter 
at what point he enters the city. Thereon are its fash- 
ionable clubs and one of the best restaurants in all 
creation, — the place at which one can obtain real gombo 
soup and eat the Creole papahotte, or marsh-fed plover. 
But the visitor who knows his New Orleans does not 
linger on Canal Street: he seeks the French quarter 
through Royal Street. Within a few squares of the 
busy modern thoroughfare, crowded with all forms of 
traffic, he enters a region wherein is yet the eighteenth 
century. He has revealed to him the New Orleans of 
the Provincial period. Without any stretch of imagi- 
nation, he can easily fancy himself in the older streets 
of Bordeaux. Quaint depots of antiquarians, little 
absinthe and wine shops; tobacco factories in hallways 
(where one can have a cigar rolled while waiting) ; tiny 
furniture warerooms having mysterious yellow or red 
paper slips pasted in a corner of their front windows 
which mean that lottery tickets are sold " on the side." 
There, too, are many quaint Spanish houses, a single 
story in height, with their red-tile roofs. The 
" quarter " is honeycombed with courtyards that might 
be in Southern France or in Spain, veritable patios 
that lack nothing of Andalusian glamour, even to spark- 
ling fountains. Royal Street was the Faubourg St. 
Germain of the Orleans of the Louisiana Province. 

Especially did I visit the old St. Louis Hotel 
around which all social activities of the Franco- 
American city revolved during the first half of the nine- 
teenth century. There duels were arranged; the great 
ball of each winter was given there. It was the central 
point of " Acadia," as the merry French-Creoles, as late 
as the Fifties, understood it. The interior of its cen- 




Old State House at Baton Rouge, Burued 
durino- the Civil War. 




Old Absinllie House, New Orlcau.s. 



Elk Lake to South-west Pass 199 

tral cupola was frescoed by a nephew and pupil of 
Canova; but far more curious to me, as existing evi- 
dence of a barbarism from which the Civil War had 
so recently freed my country, I walked to the corner 
of the rotunda and stepped upon the raised block of 
stone between two massive columns that had served 
for a generation as an auction-block from which human 
beings were sold to the highest bidder! Years after- 
ward, when shown into a slave market at Tangier, a 
city of the most debased survival of medieval barbar- 
ism, the mental picture of this auction-block at New 
Orleans recurred to me. There was the stone, with the 
auctioneer's name cut thereon. One had only to close 
his eyes to find around him the gilded youths of the 
Forties and Fifties, bidding against one another for 
this pretty slave or that sinewy field-hand. How easy 
to see a graceful octoroon, standing upon that grey 
stone, her scantily-clothed, coppery-hued figure framed 
between the fluted Corinthian columns, an object of 
jibes and rivalry between the members of a group of 
brandy-heated libertines ! 

I strolled into Charles Street, a corridor of balconies, 
and to the " rendezvous des amies de Vart culi- 
naire" an unincorporated organisation that assembles 
about four o'clock, every afternoon, at " The Old 
Absinthe House," to discuss the latest thought in cook- 
ing and, incidentally, to imbibe uncounted glasses of 
pale, amber-hued drink, — properly dripped into a gob- 
let with a pointed bottom. Not far distant, in Chartres 
Street and upon a corner, I was shown the house that 
the " pure-blooded " Creoles built for the Exile at St. 
Helena, the great Napoleon who had given their land 
and themselves to the young Republic. Instead of 



200 The Mississippi 

effecting the intended rescue and building his house 
when they had " their Emperor " to occupy it, the hero- 
worshippers were celebrating their intended benefaction 
in a noisy revel when word of Napoleon's death, months 
before, at " Longwood," on his lonely island prison, 
reached New Orleans. 

A visit of reverent sympathy was made to the tomb 
of Dominique You, the Baratarian pirate who rendered 
such heroic service to General Jackson on the Plain 
of Chalmette. It is in need of repair and if the city 
of New Orleans does not attend to the task, Congress 
should appropriate money for the purpose. 

At eight o'clock on the morning of August 3d, the 
steamship George Croinwell swung from her wharf and 
headed for the Gulf of Mexico, — the last stage of the 
Mississippi journey. In mid-stream, aboard an ocean- 
going craft, the majesty of the great river was felt as 
not before. Every eye was watching for the Plain of 
Chalmette, the field upon which the squirrel-hunters of 
the woods and the smugglers of Barataria defeated 
British veterans of the Peninsular war. Its site was 
indicated by an uncompleted shaft. Between Pointe-a- 
la-Hache, — where a clumsy carpenter is said to have 
dropped overboard an axe, — and Forts St. Philip and 
Jackson, the river banks are lined with orange groves. 
Across the narrow strip of land that restrains the river 
in its channel below the forts, rarely a mile in width, the 
Gulf can be plainly seen. Here and throughout lower 
Louisiana, the people speak of " the coast " of the Mis- 
sissippi; it is quite improper to say "banks." A 
panorama of splendid plantations unrolled before us. 
Reaching the head of the passes, we took the south-west 
channel to the sea. The bar, one hundred and twenty 




The House Built for llie lOiupe'ioi- Napolecin. 



Elk Lake to South-west Pass 201 

miles from the " Crescent City," was crossed at 4.30 
in the afternoon; the three-pronged delta, having mys- 
terious place upon the famous " Admiral's Map " of 
unknown authorship, came clearly into view as the 
mouths of south and north-east passes were reached. 

The red-sandstone walls of the frowning but worth- 
less fortress upon the Dry Tortugas were sighted at 
five o'clock of August 6th, and Key West light ap- 
peared at ten the same night. We went through 
Florida Strait with the onrush of the Gulf Stream at 
its most constricted point. Along the east coast of the 
Peninsula, we had the dainty flying-fish and bright- 
hued nautilus with us as far as Canaveral light. The 
Gulf Stream, veritable " river in the ocean " and greater 
in volume than the mighty flood from which I had 
parted company, was hurrying us northward at a speed 
of five miles an hour. It was bound for that Haven 
of Missing Ships, the Sargasso Sea; we for that 
Port of the Living, New York. 

Cape Hatteras, with its resplendent, companionable 
light, amid the loneliness of that generally storm-tossed 
part of the Atlantic, was sighted at 8.58 p.m.^ of the 
9th. Thirty hours later, we were at our pier in New 
York. A trip of more than six thousand miles at an 
end, the writer was at once asked to and did volunteer 
for an undertaking far more hazardous than that in 
which he had been engaged. 



CHAPTER XI 

The Itasca State Park 

THE preservation of the sources of the Mississippi 
probably grew out of a suggestion made by the 
late Alfred J. Hill, of Saint Paul, in March, 
1889, that the Itasca region be secured by the State of 
Minnesota and converted into a park. Joseph A. Whee- 
lock, in the Saint Paul Pioneer Press, warmly advocated 
the measure and it was formally brought before the 
Minnesota Historical Society in 1890 by Emil Geist, of 
Saint Paul. General John B. Sanborn, a member of 
the State Senate, was asked to prepare and submit a 
bill to the Legislature. This act, which met with hearty 
approval, created " The Itasca State Park, composed 
of thirty-five square miles of territory at Itasca Lake, 
for ever dedicated to the public." Under the provi- 
sions of the act, Governor WilUam R. Merriam ap- 
pointed J. V. Brower, First Commissioner of the Itasca 
State Park. Although Mr. Brower had visited the 
region in October of 1888, he had not been equipped 
at that time with instruments for charting the lake. 
He returned, however, in March, 1889, and measured 
Itasca on the ice. In 1891, he made a topographical 
survey, as directed by the special act, and the results 
of the hydrographic survey of 1889 and of the topo- 
graphical examination of 1891 were combined in a chart 
that afterwards became known as a map of the Itasca 



B wwiiaiiuiu.iiaw^ii^.uV:A ' Jii.i ' H. VK«ma<MvJ.w 




:;e p8:u3SU! aq |1!M pue 'pazi.^iBip Buiaq s\ ;no-pi0^ siqi 



japioLjeDeid 
:ino-p|Od 



^ ^ 




The Itasca State Park 203 

State Park. It is herewith given. Representative J. 
N. Castle, of Minnesota, introduced a bill in Congress 
giving to the State of Minnesota all government lands 
lying within the limits of the park; but despite the 
promptitude with which the bill became a law, timber- 
cruisers and lumber companies " located " vast tracts 
of the territory. These they have largely denuded of 
timber and some of the splendid forests along the shores 
of Itasca Lake have been destroyed. 

The name of J. V. Brower will always be associated 
with sturdy efforts made to retain the natural beauties 
of the Itasca Lake region. He had performed the 
task for which he was commissioned by his State and 
the Governor thereof, before the Mississippi Com- 
mission took cognisance of the sources of the mighty 
river. Of great value were the calculations he com- 
piled regarding the elevations of the points upon the 
river and especially of the large lakes in the Minne- 
sota watershed. He computed the elevation in feet 
above sea level, at the surface of the stream, to be as 
follows : 

Gulf of Mexico 0.0 Prairie du Chien 597.5 

City of Saint Louis 384.8 La Crosse 621.2 

Mouth of the Illinois. . 399.4 Saint Paul 680.5 

Hannibal 444.9 Above St. Anthony Fall 782.0 

Quincy 453.8 Below Pokegama Fall. 1248.0 

Keokuk 472.3 Above Pokegama Fall. 1269.8 

Burlington 505.1 Winnebagoshish Lake . 1292.8 

Rock Island 533.7 Cass Lake 1302.8 

Dubuque 578.2 Itasca Lake 1457.0 

Taken in connection with the distances between the 
localities mentioned, the changes in altitude unmistak- 
ably indicate rapid water in many places. The height 



204 The Mississippi 

of Pokegama Fall is established at 21.8 feet. Mr. 
B rower and his assistants gave more than j&ve months 
to their work, and the survey made by them would 
appear to have been more thorough and satisfactory 
than that of Edwin S. Hall, C. E., for the United States 
Government, in 1875, when, for the first time, the Itasca 
country had any lines run. 

Mr. Brower spent many months in compiling his 
report. It gives a topographical description of Itasca 
Lake, but states that the soundings made were in- 
adequate for an accurate calculation of the cubic gal- 
lons of water contained in the lake. Depths of twenty 
to thirty-five feet were found in numerous places and 
some as great as fifty. The deepest water is off Turn- 
bull Point, — the cape that divides the two southern 
arms. Mr. B rower's measurement of Itasca Lake upon 
the ice gives the following figures: *' From the centre 
of the channel at the outlet of Itasca, on the surface 
of the ice, to the mouth of Chambers Creek, 16,727 
feet," — 3 miles, 887 feet, or about three and one sixth 
miles. This is the first actual measurement and is defin- 
itive. Mr. Brower adds, on the same page : " There 
is no doubt whatever that Elk Lake is supplied to some 
extent by waters from the greater ultimate reser\'^oir 
bowl by tortuous channels through the ways which 
nature in her grandeur has provided." ^ 

Itasca Lake varies in width from one sixth to three 
quarters of a mile. " Many precipitous hills, covered 
with pine timber, nearly surround it," continues the 
Commissioner's report. 

Among them it is deeply embedded. In places, the shores 
are lined with boulders, thickly bordered with overhanging 

1 Minnesota Historical Society Collections, vol. vii., p. 259. 



The Itasca State Park 205 

flora. At occasional points along the shore, springs of clear, 
cold water appear, around which cluster balsam, fir, spruce, 
the native tamarack, willow, aspen, ash, and birch, with pine 
groves at higher elevations. Drought does not greatly affect 
the outflow of the lake. The following streams of running 
water supply the lake with an inflow equalling the outflow; 
Nicollet's Creek [called by him "the Cradled Hercules"] 
at the extreme south-west angle; Chambers Creek, the outlet 
of Elk Lake, at east side of west arm; Mary Creek, at ex^ 
treme south-east angle; Boutwell Creek, at west side of west 
arm; Island Creek, on west side, opposite Schoolcraft Island; 
and Floating Bog Creek, at Floating Bog Bay. The area of 
Schoolcraft Island is 2.62 acres. A shoal of boulders exists 
in the main body of the lake, a short distance west by south 
from the island. There are a series of small lakes extending 
southward through Mary Valley, from the eastern arm as far 
as Deming Lake. 

Stanley A. McKay, of Owatonna, Minnesota, con- 
tributes a statement regarding the outflow of Itasca, 
which Commissioner Brower has deemed worthy to be 
included in his report. It is as follows: 

It seemed to me beyond question that the volume of water 
flowing out Itasca Lake was far greater than the combined 
volume of all its four streams and inlets. If actual measure- 
ment prove this to be true, — and it seems to me probable, 
thus showing that the added volume of the outlet comes from 
springs in the lake, — would not that leave Itasca as the real 
source of the Mississippi? 

The answer to Mr. McKay's query is that every- 
thing depends upon the facts; his theory is based upon 
an assumption. A decision in the matter ought to be 
easy of attainment. 

Commissioner Brower's latest exploration of the 
Nicollet Valley and of Nicollet Creek is given herewith 
in his own words: 



2o6 The Mississippi 

Where the stream becomes a part of Itasca Lake, it is 
forty feet in width and two feet in depth; narrowing as as- 
cended, it was found to be three feet in depth, twenty feet in 
width, with a brisk current, a short distance from the lake. 
The character of the locality is a deep valley, somewhat 
swampy along the stream, with prominent hills on either side, 
heavily timbered with the native pine. These hills also appear 
in detached groups in the tamarack and fir thickets, sometimes 
a hundred feet in height and the pines a hundred feet higher 
than the hills beneath their stately branches, making the local- 
ity easy of access and not difficult to closely examine. Pass- 
ing up the stream, the explorer is impressed with its import- 
ance, as compared with all the other streams found there, by 
its sharply defined banks, its winding, meandering channel, 
deeply cut into the stratum to a sandy, gravelly bed, with the 
appearance and characteristics of the Mississippi below Itasca 
Lake. It has sandbars, sharp angles in its channel, deep and 
shallowing currents, and all the striking features of a river. 
Trees have been felled in several places across its banks to 
permit of passage on foot (1904). Upon the removal of these 
trees, canoes might be propelled nearly two miles up this 
channel from Itasca Lake. 

The lines of measurement were extended throughout the 
entire locality, thereby securing the distances and elevations; 
lakes were sounded for depth, the streams were measured for 
width, depth, and flowage, and the topography was carefully 
taken, even to the extent, when found necessary, of opening 
passages through the thickets around Nicollet Valley. A line 
penetrating the wilderness from Morrison Hill, directly to the 
north shore of Hernando de Soto Lake, discovered the exist- 
ence and continuance of a spur of the Hauteurs de Terre, 
sharply separating the waters of Nicollet Valley from those of 
Elk Lake. The lines of measurement, extended to every local- 
ity, gave the following results: 

From the centre of the channel at the outlet of Itasca Lake 
to the mouth of Nicollet's Creek, 17,920 feet; thence up the 
channel to mouth of Demaray Creek, 3797; to Nicollet's lower 
lake, 2760; to Nicollet's middle lake, 1956; to Nicollet Springs, 




Itasca Park Lodge. 



i 





A liii'dseye View of Itasea Basin. 
(Minnesota Historical Society Collection.) 



The Itasca State Park 207 

690; to Nicollet's upper lake, 315; to centre of Mississippi 
Springs, 5265 ; to north end of Whipple Lake, 1320 ; and thence 
to inner flank of the Hauteurs de "^erre at south shore of 
Hernando de Soto Lake, 12,060 : or a total of 46,089 feet. 

Due almost wholly to the enthusiasm, energy, and 
persistence of the late J. V. Brower, the Itasca State 
Park is now an established institution. Its area is 
19,701.69 acres. Of this, the United States granted 
6956.92 acres; the Northern Pacific Railroad Com- 
pany, 2452.96; two school sections 1280; purchased of 
Weyerhauser 3191.90; swamp lands 82.67; Great 
Northern selections 210.16, and acreage in unsuccess- 
ful negotiation 5527-08. Since the locality has become 
easy of access, many tourists visit the Park every 
summer. A lodge for the entertainment of guests has 
been built south of the east arm of Itasca, in a fine 
forest. 



CHAPTER XII 

Delta of the Mississippi 

NO other river delta in the world compares with 
that of the Mississippi. Geologists assure us 
that an arm of the Gulf originally extended as 
far north as Cape Girardeau, Missouri, and that the 
creation of the present frontier line has been " the slow, 
calm toil of Nature." This gives to it a stretch across 
eight and one half degrees of latitude, say one thousand 
miles ! 

The Nile delta extends southward from the Medi- 
terranean, — the Sea of All Antiquity, — as far as 
Helouan, a village ten miles south of Cairo, prin- 
cipally memorable for its fossilised forests. This is 
one hundred and forty miles distant from the sea. 
Standing bj^ the great obelisk at Heliopolis, — and the 
tall monolith is the only evidence extant that a city of 
a million people once was there, — the writer of this 
volume realised, recently, that the surface of the Nile 
delta, in which Heliopolis stands, had been raised 
twenty-five feet since Sesostris set up the shaft, four 
thousand years ago. The delta of the Ganges is not 
so large as that of the Nile. 

The made land of the Mississippi's delta averages 
sixty miles in width, narrowing in places to thirty and 
expanding at other times to ninety miles. It is widest 

at the mouth of the Arkansas River, where is the dead 

208 



Delta of the Mississippi 209 

town of Napoleon; and narrowest at Natchez and at 
Helena. Interlocking bayous and channels, navigable 
for light-draft steamboats, parallel the Mississippi's 
entire course through these thousand miles of soft, allu- 
vial bed. Every available acre of land is thus brought 
into close proximity to navigation, — a characteristic 
that renders the mighty American river different from 
any other in the world. 

Before the completion of the present dyke system, 
Colonel Caleb G. Forshay, a distinguished engineer 
who devoted many years to the problem of controlling 
the waters of the Lower Mississippi, estimated that one 
tenth of the delta area was consumed by channels or 
water spaces: yet, such was their importance, as means 
of inter-communication, that they added assessable 
value to the real estate in every State along that part 
of the river. 

The part of the delta bordering the Gulf of Mexico 
contains seven thousand two hundred and thirty-two 
square miles of marsh lands. The fertility of the soil 
is apparently inexhaustible. In the last two latitudinal 
degrees of the river's course, rice and sugar are grown 
in an abundance and quality not equalled in any other 
part of North America. Sugar-cane is cultivated only 
in the Mississippi delta, south of latitude 31 degrees 
and 30 minutes. From that point, northward, for five 
degrees, cotton grows in double quantities as compared 
with the uplands. Oranges, figs, grapes, apples, 
peaches, and other fruits of the semi-tropics and of the 
temperate zones are grown in various parts of the delta. 
Pecans, most valuable because most marketable of all 
nuts, abound over the entire alluvial basin. 

This productiveness is universally applicable to all 



2IO The Mississippi 

Tinsubmerged alluvial lands of the Mississippi delta and 
does not apply exclusively to chosen areas. 

Colonel Forshay calculates the productive lands in 
the basin at 22,920,320 acres. " It is the largest body 
of equal fertility known to geography," he adds. It 
is fully twice as large as Egypt, as represented by the 
Nile valley, delta and the Fayum. In the Mississippi 
valley, a loss of one crop in five from overflow (a 
large estimate) leaves to the agriculturist double the 
product of continuous half crops upon the uplands. 

The forests of the delta are remarkable for the large 
size of their trees and the exuberance of foliage : cypress 
and oak are the chief varieties, but many other kinds 
abound. Great festoons of parasitic moss and climb- 
ing vines cling to the branches of the trees. While 
ships were built of wood, live oaks, at the southern 
section of the delta, supplied angles and braces for the 
marine of the world. Some cypress swamps have pro- 
duced as much as fifty thousand feet of lumber to the 
acre, — not mentioning several hundred yards of 
moccasin snakes. 

I — ITS LEVEES 

Prior to the building of levees, the Mississippi al- 
ways overflowed at 38° 30' N., and passed into the White 
Water lakes and swamps connecting with the St. Francis 
and the Black rivers, whence the flood pursued its course 
to the White River and Arkansas valleys, through 
Macon Bayou, thence by the Red and Atchafalaya 
rivers into the Gulf of Mexico. Often, this overflow 
did not find its way back into the Mississippi, but formed 
a parallel, although shallow, channel a thousand miles 



Delta of the Mississippi 211 

long. This peculiar geographical feature is only to be 
likened to the annual overflow of the Amazon and Ori- 
noco rivers, by v^^hich they are temporarily united. 
When Sir Charles Lyell, an English geologist, ex- 
amined the Mississippi delta, he limited its northern 
boundary to the head of the Atchafalaya and gave to 
it an area of thirteen thousand six hundred square miles : 
but Colonel Forshay fixed its northern limit at three 
miles below Cape Girardeau, and gave to it an area of 
thirty-eight thousand seven hundred and thirty-six 
square miles. 

The Nile has subsided every season before the Mis- 
sissippi begins to run aflood. What is a supreme bless- 
ing in Egypt, is in Louisiana gravest of calamities. 
JMillions have been spent at Assuan, at Assiut, and 
below Cairo to distribute the fertilising floods far and 
wide; in Louisiana, Mississippi, and Arkansas money 
has been poured out to restrain the angry river within 
its banks. 

The fertility of the Mississippi delta is so extraor- 
dinary and its climate so salubrious that the rescue 
of its cultivable lands from submergence by annual 
floods has engaged the attention of the best engineer- 
ing ability since an early period in the history of the 
Republic. During the last half -century, the subject 
has become a matter of supreme importance to Ameri- 
can commercial growth, has commanded the attention 
of Congress, and has warranted a constant expenditure 
of enormous sums of money by the States along its 
banks, as well as by the general government. 

The first systematic attempt to control the great 
river was undertaken at New Orleans in the year 1717, 
when De la Tour, who had laid out the city, ordered a 



212 The Mississippi 

dyke built along its river front from Canal Street to 
the Esplanade to protect the citizens from overflow. 
Planters then began continuing levees along the river. 
This constant struggle of man against the elements 
continued in a desultory way for a hundred years 
and, especially in Louisiana, during three changes of 
government. The defence of man against the relent- 
less encroachment lacked organisation. Its weakness 
at some points amounted to incapacity; the strength 
of the defence was gauged only by the weakest point 
and the river proved its might whenever it chose. In 
1828, however, the assaulting force grappled the prob- 
lem seriously. The levees then reached from Pointe- 
a-la-Hache below New Orleans to the Red River's 
mouth on the west side, a total of four hundred 
miles of dykes. The young State of Louisiana had 
been aroused to activity by the disastrous flood of that 
year. After ten years' continuous labour, the outlets of 
the largest bayous were closed. Bayou 1' Argent, a 
few miles above Natchez and opening into Lake St. 
John, and Bullet's Bayou, opening into Lake Con- 
cordia, were closed by a parish tax, not by riparian 
proprietors. The filling up of these two bayou con- 
nections with the river marks the beginning of State 
and national reclamation. 

The rescue of the Concordia plantations from the 
grasp of the Mississippi River is a historical event, 
remembered and celebrated from one end of the delta 
to the other. 

One by one, Bryan's Bayou, Alligator Bayou, and 
River Styx, leading into Lake St. Joseph; Bayou Vidal 
leading to Tensas; and Providence Bayou, communi- 
cating with Lake Providence, were sealed up. Before 



Delta of the Mississippi 213 

the advent of the great flood of 1844, every old river 
lake for six hundred miles up the right bank of the 
Mississippi was cut off from the river's overflow. No 
braver struggle between man and nature ever was made. 

The next step was an effort on the part of the 
Louisiana Legislature to secure aid from the general 
government. This took the form of a memorial from 
the former body in the winter of 1849 praying the 
Congress of the United States for aid to protect the 
people and property of the Mississippi delta against 
inundations. The government had many thousand 
acres of unsold land in the delta and Congress acted 
with promptitude. A survey of the delta by United 
States engineers was ordered. To assist the States, the 
unsold government swamp lands were given to the 
various States. In 1853, after the several States in 
interest had formed a combination for mutual protec- 
tion, the national government practically took charge 
of the work. 

According to Humphreys and Abbott, the levee 
line was completed on the eastern bank from Pointe-a- 
la-Hache to Baton Rouge; thence for two hundred 
miles, until Vicksburg is reached, the mighty river im- 
pinges upon bluffs which serve as nature's own dykes. 
The line was finished from Vicksburg north to Horn 
Lake at the Mississippi State line, in which section the 
largest outlet grappled wdth anywhere along the river 
up to that time, Yazoo Pass, was closed. From that 
point to the northern end of the delta only short 
stretches of dykes were required. 

The problem on the western bank was an almost 
equally serious one. Before the government took hold, 
the line of the defence against floods had been com- 



214 The Mississippi 

pleted through Louisiana and along the Arkansas shore 
nearly to the mouth of the Arkansas River. Above 
that point, the river front of Arkansas and Missouri 
required only forty miles of levee, — due to high banks. 

When this work was thoroughly in hand, the Civil 
War burst upon the country in 1861. All work 
stopped. Spades were laid aside for muskets. Instead 
of using sand bags for stopping crevasses in the levees, 
men piled them into breastworks for protection from 
bullets. The amount of levee destruction due to mili- 
tary necessity during the four years of conflict never 
can be accurately calculated. Within a few weeks of 
the surrender at Appomattox, the States of Louisiana 
and Mississippi began repairing the most- important 
breaks in levees along their banks. In many places, 
due to changes in the river's course, levees have been 
destroyed and rebuilt thrice since 1865. In Louisiana 
alone, the amount of filling necessary to stay the en- 
croachments of the river, for the five years immediately 
following the close of the war, amounted to 8,135,656 
cubic yards and cost $4,881,936. Louisiana issued 
during that time, — according to O. D. Bragdon, — 
$8,134,000 in Levee Bonds. 

(The Mississippi has tributaries that surpass the 
greatest rivers of Europe. It discharges into the Gulf 
of Mexico one half more water than do the Rhine, 
Loire, Po, Elbe, Vistula, Danube, Dnieper, Don, and 
Volga into the ocean and lake front of Europe. Its 
flow past New Orleans is equal to that of the Indus, 
Euphrates and Ganges combined; about twice as much 
as the Nile; equals that of the Rio de la Plata, and is 
surpassed by the Amazon. Unlike the floods of the 
Nile and the Ganges, which occur annually and with 



Delta of the Mississippi 215 

chronological precision, the Mississippi risings are ir- 
regular as to time and magnitude. The flood of 1882 
exceeded all previous ones and still holds the high-water 
record. Theoretically, the Missouri ought to be the 
determining factor and generally does supply the great- 
est volume of superfluous water; but the freaks of the 
Ohio, assisted by the Cumberland and Tennessee rivers, 
are very curious. When floods of large proportions 
arrive simultaneously from the north and east at the 
meeting point, Cairo, a rise of forty to fifty feet has 
occurred and the mighty river expands to a width of 
ten to sixty miles. " It would seem as if the sea had 
again returned to its own," comments Robert Stewart 
Taylor, a student of flood phenomena. He has pre- 
pared exhaustive data on the levee system of the Mis- 
sissippi from which we arrive at an estimate of the 
menace to agriculture by these floods. The area of 
rich, tillable land so threatened, he places at 10,000,000 
acres. Of this area, 2,000,000 acres belong to the corn 
belt, extending from Commerce to the Washita River; 
6,000,000 acres are in the cotton belt, between the 
Red and Washita rivers; and 2,000,000 acres are in 
the sugar and rice belts, extending from the Red River 
to the Gulf. Were these lands secure from overflow, 
they have a productive capacity of 60,000,000 bushels 
of com, 4,000,000 bales of cotton (500 pounds each), 
2,000,000,000 pounds of sugar, and 1,000,000,000 
pounds of rice. " Up to date," says Mr. Taylor in a 
recent article on this subject, "less than one third of 
these possibilities have been reahsed." This would 
indicate that the general government and the States 
of the Mississippi Valley cannot expend too much 
money for the construction and maintenance of levees. 



2i6 The Mississippi 

The Mississippi Commission was created by an act 
of Congress three years before the disastrous flood of 
1882, but it did not bestir itself until after that calamity 
had aroused the energies of the entire country, looking 
to the protection of the lowlands of Mississippi, Arkan- 
sas, and Louisiana. The Commission consists of three 
United States engineers, two officers of the Coast and 
Geodetic Survey, and three civilians, eight members. 
It has expended from one to four million dollars an- 
nually in maintaining the dykes. Since 1882, the States 
bordering upon the mighty flood route to the sea have 
spent $18,000,000 and the government $16,000,000, in 
fending off the Mississippi along 1300 miles of levees. 
A continuous system to-day extends from New Madrid 
to St. Francis, 200 miles; an unbroken dyke incloses 
the Yazoo Basin, north of Vicksburg, 300 miles; an- 
other line from Arkansas City to the mouth of the Red 
River, 331 miles; another from the Red River to Fort 
Jackson, 274 miles ; and, on the east bank, another from 
Baton Rouge to Fort St. Philip, 193 miles. There 
are many smaller sections, especially at the mouths of 
tributaries. Chief success has been attained in the 
lowest third of the river. 

" There was a time, ages ago, when an estuary ex- 
tended from the Gulf of Mexico to the hills above 
Cairo," says Robert Stewart Taylor, specialist on the 
levee problem.^ 

If the relative elevations of sea and land were as they are 
now, the Mississippi River ended in a waterfall three hundred 
feet high, at the head of that bay and near the site of the 
present town site of Commerce. A few miles eastward, the 
Ohio, the Cumberland, and the Tennessee leaped from similar 

^ " The Levee Problem," Forum, vol. xxiv., 325. 



Delta of the Mississippi 217 

elevations into the same abyss. With this enormous down- 
pour came the sand, clay, and loam, scoured from a million 
square miles of watershed, — with which the estuary of the 
Mississippi has been filled and from which has been formed 
its present alluvial delta. Into this basin has been gathered 
the cream of the Continent, a hundred feet deep and having 
an area of twenty-nine thousand square miles. 

Generals Humphreys and Abbott have made elabo- 
rate calculations as to the annual soil-waste caused by 
the Mississippi and its tributaries, which show that the 
river carries into the Gulf over 400,000,000 tons of solid 
matter, in addition to large quantities of earth salts, 
in solution, and of sand, or other coarse material swept 
along its bottom. In a recent article ^ intended to ex- 
plain why the riches of American farms take wings, 
Emerson Hough comments on the Humphreys and 
Abbott conclusions: 

At the time of these determinations [he says], settlement in 
the Mississippi Valley was comparatively limited, and, as 
shown by local observations on different rivers, the effect of 
extending agriculture has been to increase the soil-matter car- 
ried by the Mississippi fully twenty-five per cent. Ninety per 
cent, of the matter transported by the waters consists of 
rich soil-stuff washed from the surface or leached from the 
subsurface of fields and pastures and (in less degree) of 
woodlands. Reckoned on the basis of value as fertiliser, the 
material could hardly be appraised at less than one dollar 
per ton; so that the annual loss to the agricultural interests 
of the country can hardly fall short of a billion dollars — 
equivalent to an impost as great as most other taxes com- 
bined, and one yielding absolutely no return. 

The watery inhabitants of the Lower Mississippi 

1 " The Waste in Mud," by Emerson Hough, Saturday Evening 
Post, March 27, 1909. 



2i8 The Mississippi 

possess marked peculiarities. The alligator is not 
found north of the Yazoo. He frequents the bayous of 
Arkansas and Louisiana, — especially those of Plaque- 
mines parish, — in preference to the main channel. 
His fear of man, dread of the porpoise, curious night 
trips ashore, the toughness of his hide, the tremendous 
strength of his tail, the ease with which the saurian is 
called to the surface by an imitation of the bark of a 
dog or squeal of a pig, his slow growth and longevity 
of three hundred years are noteworthy. The bellow of 
the alligator is heard only in stormy nights.^ 

Land crabs, or " fiddlers," are the foes of levee 
builders. The banks are sometimes covered with these 
crustaceans. They possess a single claw, instead of 
two, sometimes upon the right and sometimes upon the 
left side, which they throw up as a menace. 

In the Mississippi is the garpike, which Hugh 
Miller declares " has remained to unlock the marvels 
of the ichthyology of the remotest periods of geologic 
history appropriated to the fish dynasty." It is half 
fish and half reptile. A coat of mail, composed of bony 
plates, from which a steel will strike fire, covers it. 
It has two rows of teeth, one reptilian and one pisca- 
torial, and an air bladder upon which it can draw when 
out of water. Lyell says of the garpike: "He can 
hurt anything and nothing can hurt him." 

II — THE JETTIES 

For more than two generations, there has been 
open war between man and nature at the outlets 

1 See an article on this subject by James A. Noyes, Putnam's 
Magazine, 1868. 




03 









-a 



Delta of the Mississippi 219 

of the Mississippi. The Gulf Stream sweeps past 
the three mouths of the mighty river and phenomena 
not found elsewhere on the globe exist there. Of 
these, the most remarkable are the mud lumps that 
often rose in front of a navigator while he was wait- 
ing at the bar for high tide. These mud volcanoes were 
the dread of pilots, ancient and modern : they were " the 
evil genii of the Passes." 

Soon after the close of the Civil War, Captain James 

B. Eads began a study of conditions at the mouths of 
the Mississippi. His first great undertaking associated 
with that river was the building of a steel and iron 
bridge at Saint Louis; but when that enterprise was 
fairly under way, he turned his attention to providing 
an assured depth of thirty feet at the outlet of the 
river. Three distinguished government engineers. Gen. 
A. A. Humphreys, Capt. H. L. Abbott, and Major 

C. W. Howell, strenuously opposed Eads. Major 
Howell had proposed a canal from the Mississippi, at 
a point three miles below Fort St. Philip, to Breton 
Sound, whence a five-fathom channel, running south- 
ward to deep water, already existed. The canal would 
have had to have a lock, the capacity of which would 
not exceed twenty-four vessels per day. Captain Eads 
contended that jetties could be built for one half the 
cost of the canal. He maintained the contest for sev- 
eral years and finally won. He contracted to build 
jetties at South Pass for $11,000,000 and to maintain 
them for nine years, payment to be made when success 
was assured. 

In 1875, Congress authorised the late James B. 
Eads to construct jetties at South Pass, by which the 
fourteen miles of channel was to be straightened and 



220 The Mississippi 

increased to a depth of twenty-six feet of water. The 
work was placed under the immediate direction of E. 
L. Corthell, C. E., and was completed with entire suc- 
cess. The actual cost was $8,021,740.87. 

( In one of his memorials to Congress, Captain Eads 
stated his theory about the delta problem. " The Mis- 
sissippi is simply a transporter of solid matter to the 
sea, chiefly sand and alluvion held in suspension by the 
mechanical effect of the current," says Captain Eads. 
" A certain velocity gives to the stream ability of hold- 
ing in suspension a proportionate quantity of solid 
matter; and when thus charged, the stream can sustain 
no more, — hence will carry off no more, — and there- 
fore cannot wear away its bottom or banks, no matter 
how directly the current may impinge against them." 
This was new hydraulics ; it flew in the face of accepted 
theories. 

" The Gulf does not present a barrier to the out- 
ward flow because less friction exists in walls of water 
than between banks of earth," argued Captain Eads. 

/At the bar, the river flows between banks of salt water and 
over a bottom of brine instead of mud. No longer having 
a descent of a few inches to the mile, it must maintain its 
current in the Gulf simply by acquired momentum. Friction 
finally brings it to a state of rest, when a spreading out 
movement begins. The tides in the Gulf are feeble, averaging 
less than fourteen inches in height. 

Jetties are simply dykes or levees under water, and act as 
banks to the river to prevent its expansion and diffusion as 
it enters the sea. Where the banks of a river extend boldly 
into the ocean a bar never exists. In delta forming rivers, 
they are always found. 

Captain Eads reasoned that if bars result from the 




O 



C3 

(1^ 



X 






Delta of the Mississippi 221 

diffusion of the alluvium-laden river water, fan-like, 
after entering the sea, the remedy was to prevent such 
diffusion. An examination of the passes showed a nar- 
row and uniform width of channel until a point within 
seven miles of the bar, the latter being three miles be- 
yond land's end. The Mississippi was extending its 
own banks into the Gulf " at the rate of eight to nine 
inches per day " ! Eads decided that the bar would not 
continue to advance seaward if jetties were constructed. 
The river averaged sixty feet in depth between the bar 
and the city of New Orleans ; but on the bar, it rapidly 
shoaled to twelve and seventeen feet. This was the 
problem Captain Eads grappled at South Pass. He 
tried for a deep, open, permanent outlet, without locks, 
agreed to maintain the jetties for nine years, and they 
were not to be paid for then unless entirely successful. 
The terms of the contract showed the confidence of the 
engineer in his theories. The achievement was one of 
the most brilliant in modern engineering. 

The jetties were formed by layers of brush mat- 
tresses, weighted with forty to fifty pounds of broken 
stone to the square foot and capped with a heavy con- 
crete wall. Up to the level of mean high water, the 
jetty-structure consisted of tiers of mattresses two feet 
in thickness, made of willow brush, held together by a 
top and bottom framework of yellow pine, and braced at 
the sides with three-by-six-inch timber. These mat- 
tresses were in two hundred feet lengths and varied in 
width from ninety-five feet for bottom layers to thirty- 
five feet at the top. The isolated position of the work 
necessitated the construction of quarters for the work- 
men, and thus the town of Port Eads came into ex- 
istence. A flotilla of tugs and barges was employed 



222 The Mississippi 

in bringing materials and provisions from New Or- 
leans. 

Although the initial experiment of the Eads system 
of improving the Mississippi's entrance to the sea was 
tried at South Pass, — primarily because official influence 
was strong enough to prevent the test at South-west 
Pass — complete success of the concessionaire compelled 
the adoption of the same methods for the latter. In- 
crease in the draft of ocean steamships and the prospec- 
tive completion of the Panama Canal, which will bring 
New Orleans into direct communication with the com- 
merce of the Far East, counselled the creation of a 
channel of thirty-five feet depth. The contract for 
the improvement of South-west Pass was awarded to 
Christie & Lowe of Chicago. Mr. Cornelius Donovan, 
United States Assistant Engineer, supervised the con- 
struction. The Eads system of willow mattresses and 
broken stone, with concrete capping, was employed. 
The two jetties, 17,000 feet long on the eastern bank 
and 11,000 feet on the western, were completed in the 
spring of 1908. The quantities of materials used in 
the construction were 1,085,830 square yards of mat- 
tress, 337,426 tons of rip-rap stone — ^brought from 
Birmingham, Alabama, — and 44,511 cubic yards of con- 
crete. The contractors were paid $2,629,360.35. 

This achievement converted New Orleans into one 
of the deep-water ports of the world. 

( North-east Pass is in the hands of United States 
engineers, not with a view to rendering it navigable for 
ocean steamships but as a chute for canying off sur- 
plus water during floods. It had a formidable crevasse, 
opening directly into the Gulf. Into this was dumped 
thousands of tons of concrete blocks and broken stone. 



:^e pe^jasu! sq him pue 'pBz\v5\p Buiaq si ;no-p(p^ sjqi 



J9p|oqaDe|d 
ino-p|oj 



s ^ -^ ?■ 




Delta of the Mississippi 223 

A ditch, three feet wide in 1872, afterwards widened 
to 2230 feet! A closure was made in 1898 by a dam 
6600 feet long; but on the night of its completion, one 
of the worst storms known to the coast carried away 
170 feet of the dam, which breach had widened by June, 
1907, to 1029 feet. The break has since been closed 
and is under permanent control. 



CHAPTER XIII 

Joining the Great River to the Great Lakes 

AGITATION for the creation of a deep-water 
route from the Great Lakes to the Mississippi 
and thence to the Gulf of Mexico has taken defi- 
nite shape since the completion of the Chicago Drain- 
age Canal, uniting Lake Michigan with the Illinois 
River. That enterprise was carried through solely by 
the city of Chicago, at an expense of $50,000,000, and 
that populous and enterprising municipality is willing 
to contribute its canal if the national government will 
guarantee the maintenance of a fourteen-foot channel 
from Chicago to the sea. 

The Chicago Drainage Canal extends from the 
mouth of Chicago River to within sight of Joliet Lake, 
below Lockport: it is navigable the entire distance of 
thirty-six miles by vessels drawing twenty feet of water. 
Much of the distance was through solid rock, a soft 
limestone. In offering this splendid improvement to 
the government, Chicago stipulates that a fourteen-foot 
channel be maintained in the Illinois and Mississippi 
rivers to Saint Louis. Army engineers report that 
such a channel which will be easy of maintenance can 
be constructed for $31,000,000. Congress has in- 
structed the Mississippi River Commission to make a 
survey and estimate of the cost for continuing the 

channel from Saint Louis to New Orleans. This plan 

224 



Joining the Great River to the Great Lakes 225 

to connect the Great Lakes with the Mississippi, 
through which the sea can be reached, is equal in im- 
portance to the construction of the Panama Canal. 
Better internal water conmiunication is imperative to 
meet the growing demands for more prompt trans- 
portation at periods of railroad congestion. Proof of 
the value and earning capacity of such a deep water 
canal as proposed is seen in the splendid success of 
the Sault Ste. Marie Canal, connecting Lakes Superior 
and Huron, the freight traffic through which exceeds 
fifty-five million tons annually. According to Repre- 
sentative Joseph E. Ransdell, of Louisiana, " The total 
cost of government improvements on the Great Lakes 
has been about $70,000,000, and the saving on the com- 
merce through the ' Soo ' alone in one year (1905) was 
nearly two and one half times as much as the entire 
cost of all our improvements on the lake system." ^ 

The total cost of the projected improvements that 
will enable steamships of fourteen-foot draught to deliver 
grain loaded at Duluth or Chicago at Havana, Colon, 
or Liverpool will exceed $100,000,000, — a sum which 
the State of New York is expending to provide a barge 
canal from Lake Erie through the Hudson to the 
metropolis. The problem from Lockport to the mouth 
of the Missouri, which enters the Mississippi twenty 
odd miles below the confluence of the Illinois River, is 
comparatively simple; but the route below that point 
presents many difficulties. The Missouri carries so 
much soil that fifteen feet of silt are often deposited 
in one place during a year. The channel below Saint 
Louis has an average depth of eight to nine feet, but 

1 Speech of Joseph E. Ransdell in House of Representatives, Jan. 
31, 1907. 

IS 



226 The Mississippi 

it is constantly shifting. Sand-bars created in a year 
are often carried away in a week's time. Dredging in 
such places is useless. Therefore, it is evident that the 
difficulties of maintaining a deep waterway between 
Saint Louis and Natchez, at which point the river be- 
comes deep enough for battleships (as recently shown 
by a visit of the Mississippi to that city), surpass 
those presented by the Panama Canal. They are not 
insurmountable, however, if we may believe statements 
of competent engineers. 

While President of the United States, Theodore 
Roosevelt took an active interest in all plans to improve 
transportation facilities throughout the Mississippi 
Valley. In one of his memorable addresses, during his 
triumphant trip down the mighty river, he said: 

The valley of the Mississippi is politically and commer- 
ciaily more important than any other valley on the face of 
the globe. Here, more than anywhere else, will be determined 
>^ the future of the United States, and, indeed, of the whole 

western world; and the type of civilisation reached in this 
mighty valley, in this vast stretch of country lying between 
the Alleghanies and the Rockies, the Great Lakes and the 
Gulf, will largely fix the type of civilisation for the whole 
western hemisphere. 

Twenty-two States are included in the Mississippi 
Basin. They comprise forty per cent, of the total 
area of the United States and produce seventy-five per 
cent, of its exports. The bulk of our agricultural pro- 
ducts, nearly two thirds of our manufacturing indus- 
tries, and about ten billion dollars' worth of finished 
merchandise come from its valley. Until recently, rail- 
roads have been able to keep pace with its transporta- 
tion demands, but such has been the development during 







I I ^" 



o 



Joining the Great River to the Great Lakes 227 

the past decade that traffic must again seek the water- 
ways belonging to the arterial system of this mammoth 
river. A fourteen-foot channel from Saint Louis to 
New Orleans would go farther to relieve the entire 
Middle West and South-west than any other national 
improvement that could be undertaken. With such a 
depth of water a single powerful towboat would carry 
from thirty to forty train-loads. 

Systematic plans for improving the navigation of 
the upper Mississippi by deepening its channels were 
inaugurated in 1902 at Quincy, Illinois. A convention 
of representatives from every city and town between 
Saint Paul and Saint Louis was held and " The Upper 
Mississippi River Improvement Association " took 
form. The second meeting was held at Dubuque. The 
River and Harbour Committee of the House of Repre- 
sentatives is asked at each session of Congress to appro- 
priate money to procure and maintain a navigable 
channel of six feet, at low water. Excessive railroad 
freights will restore the steamboat to pre-eminence. 
The lumber business of the North is almost at an end: 
lumber is now shipped North from southern pine dis- 
tricts, and the consumers on the upper river are 
clamorous to bring it by water. Opinion is that the 
Mississippi must at no distant day again bear the 
burden of a mighty internal commerce. Precedent is 
found in France, where hundreds of millions of francs 
have been spent in internal waterways. Commerce 
that uses these improvements is created by them. Al- 
though it exceeds in volume the maritime commerce of 
the Republic, railway traffic has steadily grown, de- 
spite competition. Americans must remember that the 
areas of the five States preaching this propaganda for 



22 8 The Mississippi 

Mississippi improvement are almost twice that of 
France. 

The Mississippi steamboat traffic of to-day is largely 
coal from the Ohio River and its tributaries. There 
was a period in the history of the West when the great 
river from New Orleans to Saint Paul was crowded 
with steamboats carrying thousands of passengers and 
many thousand tons of freight. The railroads have 
destroyed that industry. 

The first steamboat to plough the waters of the Mis- 
sissippi was built at Pittsburg in 1810, by Nicholas 
J. Roosevelt, great-great-granduncle of ex-President 
Roosevelt, backed by Robert R. Livingston and Robert 
Fulton. She was a stern-wheeler, one hundred and 
sixteen feet long and twenty feet beam, named New 
Orleans. She had two masts and was painted sky 
blue! She cost $38,000. Starting from Pittsburg, 
September 24, 1811, she reached Natchez on December 
24th and New Orleans on January 10, 1812. The 
actual running time was two hundred and fifty-nine 
hours, the speed being seven and one half miles an hour, 
with the current. This boat never attempted to ascend 
the river farther than Natchez. After use as a packet 
between New Orleans and that city, she ran on a snag 
and sank. 

Fifty-nine steamboats were engaged in traffic on the 
Mississippi and Ohio by 1819, most of them built at 
Ohio River towns. The Zehulon M. Pike, a boat 
of thirty-seven tons, was first to ascend the Mississippi 
above the mouth of the Ohio, touching at Saint Louis 
on August 2, 1817. The Independence, built at Pitts- 
burg in 1818, was the first steamboat to stem the strong 
current of the Missouri, ascending it to Boonsville, two 



Joining the Great River to the Great Lakes 229 

hundred miles above the river's mouth, in May, 1819. 
In the same year, the Western Engineer^ seventy-five 
feet long, ascended the Missouri to Council Bluffs, six 
hundred and fifty miles from Saint Louis by the river 
course. In 1823, the Virginia first ascended by steam 
to Fort St. Anthony (afterwards known as Fort 
Snelling). 

Steamboating on the Mississippi reached its culmi- 
nating point a short time before the Civil War. On 
the upper river, the maximum was attained in 1857, 
with ninety-nine steamboats landing at Saint Paul: but 
they chiefly carried freight, as the passenger arrivals 
at the outpost of civilisation were only nine hundred and 
sixty-five, or less than ten passengers to a trip. The 
maximum of steamboat traffic on the lower river is 
found in New Orleans records for the year ending 
August, 1860, which show 3245 arrivals from river 
ports, 785 from sea ports; $289,565,000 in value of the 
river conmierce received and despatched, and $183,- 
725,000 of ocean imports and exports. The Ohio River 
was always the largest traffic feeder. 

Any account of Mississippi steamboat traffic would 
be incomplete without mention of the historic race 
from New Orleans to Saint Louis, between the Robert 
E. Lee and the Natchez in 1870. I heard the story 
thus : 

Captain T. P. Leathers, of the Natchez, a Cincinnati built 
boat, made the trip from New Orleans to Saint Louis, one 
thousand two hundred and seventy-eight miles up-stream, in 
three days, twenty-one hours and fifty-eight minutes. He 
arrived on June 24, 1870, and wired the fact to Captain John 
W. Cannon, commander of the Rodert E. Lee, a New Albany 
built craft and rival of the Natchez. Cannon knew it was a 



230 The Mississippi 

challenge and began to prepare for the return of the Natchez. 
He lightened the Lee in every possible way and arranged for 
coal barges to be anchored in mid-stream at various points 
along the river. He refused all freight or passengers. 

The Natchez returned to the Crescent City, took several 
hundred tons of freight and a few passengers, and started for 
Saint Louis at five o'clock, June 30th. The Lee swung into 
the stream at the same moment. Captain Leathers had been 
informed of the preparations of the Lee's commander. It was 
a race from the start! At first, only the people of the Mis- 
sissippi Valley looked on; but before the end of twenty-four 
hours, the entire population of the United States was follow- 
ing telegraphic accounts of the contest. The Lee gained 
slightly every hundred miles. At Natchez, three hundred 
miles from the starting point, she was ten minutes ahead, 
because the Natchez had made two landings for coal and 
wood. 

At the Vicksburg bend, although the two boats were ten 
miles apart by the river's course, their smoke commingled. 
More people stood upon the shore at Helena than at any time 
since De Soto was there! Forty thousand men, women, and 
children watched the steamers pass Memphis without making 
a landing. The Natchez had cut down the Lee's lead, be- 
cause Leathers had adopted Cannon's method of taking fuel; 
but in the bend near Island No. 10 she ran aground and 
lost six hours! The Lee arrived at Saint Louis only thirty- 
three minutes ahead of the previous record of the Natchez! 
Captain Cannon was " lionised," although opinion ever will 
be divided regarding the relative speeds of the two boats. 
The South was not rich in those days; but more than 
$1,000,000 changed hands in the Mississippi Valley on the 
result of that race. 



CHAPTER XIV 

The Age of Water 

STEAMBOAT traffic upon the Mississippi and its 
tributaries almost disappeared toward the end of 
the nineteenth century. Railroads paralleled 
these great rivers, reached the towns upon their banks, 
and, until the extraordinary crops of 1906, were able to 
carry the products of the earth from farmer to con- 
sumer and to return to the former such merchandise, 
machinery, or food as he needed. Suddenly, as ap- 
peared, the utter inadequacy of the railroads for the 
'purpose of moving that great crop was demonstrated. 
Congestion existed in every part of the country. It 
was not confined to any particular locality. There were 
not cars enough upon which to load the mountains of 
accumulated freight; there were not locomotives suf- 
ficient to draw the miles of cars filled to their utmost 
carrying capacity; there were not new rails in exist- 
ence, adequate for doubling the trackage of existing 
lines; men were not to be spared from other activities 
to mine the iron ore, to smelt it, or to lay the steel 
rails after they were rolled. Terminals for the proper 
handling of the enormous quantities of freight were 
utterly inadequate. The amount of capital invested in 
the railroad systems of the United States had grown 
to $17,000,000,000, and every dollar so invested had 
added ten dollars to the wealth of the country. " More 

231 



232 The Mississippi 

railroads, more engines, more cars, more teraiinal area ! " 
was the cry; but as wise a man as James J. Hill at 
once showed that the money necessary to provide pre- 
sent relief— at least $5,000,000,000— could not be de- 
voted to that work without paralysing other branches 
of business. He further demonstrated that were the 
rails ready, the men at hand to lay them, and the en- 
gines and cars built, the relief would only be temporary. 
Therefore, the master minds in railroad transportation 
were among the first to point to a necessary resumption 
of river traffic. H2O again came to the fore! 

The agitation broke out sporadically in various parts 
of the country. New York State was digging a barge 
canal from the Hudson to Lake Erie. Chicago had 
completed a drainage canal, primarily to carry the al- 
most stagnant waters of Chicago Creek into the Illinois 
River and thence to the Mississippi, in order that the 
sewerage-laden stream should not flow into Lake Michi- 
gan and infect the city's drinking water. Consideration 
for the health of the people of Saint Louis, who took 
their water from the Mississippi, was overlooked in the 
enthusiasm of those who prosecuted the splendid enter- 
prise. But the size and efficiency of the canal, when 
water began to flow through its broad channel, sug- 
gested a deep-water highway from the Great Lakes 
to the Mississii^pi and thence to the Gulf of Mexico. 

Delegates and representative business men from all 
parts of the Middle West assembled in convention at 
Saint Louis in November, 1906, and formed the Lakes- 
to-Gulf Deep Waterway Association. This organisa- 
tion sent a representative committee to Washington 
in December of the same year, urging upon the Presi- 
dent and members of both Houses of Congress the 







CI 



41 






o 



m 

'3 

P 



o 



The Age of Water 233 

creation of a Commission " to prepare and to report 
a comprehensive plan for the improvement and control 
of the Mississippi River system and other inland water- 
ways in such manner that the rivers of the country 
may be fully utilised for navigation and other indus- 
trial purposes." Every city of importance in the Mis- 
sissippi Valley memorialised the President or Congress 
and on March 14, 1907, Theodore Roosevelt created 
the present Inland Waterways Commission of nine 
members. He said, in part: 

^In creating this Commission, I am influenced by broad con- 
siderations of national policy. Our inland waterways, as a 
whole, have thus far received scant attention. It is becoming 
clear that our streams should be considered and conserved as 
great natural resources. The time has come for merging local 
projects and uses of the inland waters in a comprehensive 
plan designed for the benefit of the entire country. The task 
is a great one, yet it is certainly not too great for us to ap- 
proach. The results which it seems to promise are even 
greater. The present congestion affects chiefly the people of 
the Mississippi Valley, and they demand relief. When the 
congestion of which they complain is relieved, the whole coun- 
try will share the good results. ... It is not possible to 
frame so large a plan for the control of our rivers without 
taking account of the orderly development of other natural 
resources. The cost necessarily will be large, but it will be 
small in comparison with the billions of capital now invested 
in steam railways. 

The Commission began active work in the spring of 
1908, by inspection trips through the Great Lakes and 
down the Mississippi, being accompanied from Keokuk 
to Memphis by President Roosevelt, in what proved 
to be one of the most triumphal pageants ever seen in 
this country. 



234 The Mississippi 

Previously, in May of the same year, had occurred 
the memorable Conference of Governors at the White 
House. This convocation had grown out of a sugges- 
tion made by William George Jordan, a young New 
York newspaper man. Its influence in awakening the 
American people to the importance of conserving the 
natural resources of the broad territory was momentous. 
Another step was the creation of a National Conserva- 
tion Commission which prepared a three-volume report, 
that is by far the most complete summary of the 
resources of the United States ever collected. 

Such were the beginnings of the campaign that 
signalises the entrance upon an Age of Water. Great 
steamers will reappear upon our broad rivers and an 
industry that seemed dead for ever will be revived in 
more than original splendour. 

Mr. W J McGee, Secretary of the Inland Water- 
ways Commission, has compiled some startling figures 
to show the immensity of the transportation problem, 
as it exists at present in the United States. There are 
in the United States 26,200 miles df navigable rivers, 
Mr. McGee estimates, and 2800 miles of canals in 
operation (with nearly as much more inoperative 
or abandoned), which in 1904 carried respectively, 
127,000,000 and 5,000,000 tons of freight. There are 
222,500 miles of railway which, during 1906, carried 
1,631,374,219 tons. 

That is to say, although the United States has a more ex- 
tensive and better distributed natural system of inland water- 
y ways than any other country, and despite the fact that water 
carriage costs on the average only a third or a fourth as much 
as rail carriage, less than one ninth of our freight lines are 
waterways, and only one twelfth of our commodities are car- 



The Age of Water 235 

ried by water. And of our aggregate assets of say |107,000,- 
000,000, our steam railways have risen to |18,000,000,000, or 
about one sixth, which even at first sight seems out of pro- 
portion ; and the disproportion becomes still more glaring when 
current production is compared with railway earnings — the 
former in 1906 reaching |7,000,000,000 to |10,000,000,000 (ac- 
cording to mode of estimate of farm products) and the latter 
12,325,765,167, or fully one fourth as much. The case is clear ; 
we are employing extravagant agencies and paying exorbitant 
rates for transportation ; the prices of our staples depend too 
little on cost of production, too largely on cost of carriage.^ 

According to careful estimates, two hundred trillion 
cubic feet of rain descends annually upon the two bil- 
lion acres of " Uncle Sam's " mainland farm. Again 
quoting Commissioner McGee, than whom no better 
authority on this subject exists, " Nominally, land sells 
by the acre or front foot ; but, actually, the price, within 
ten per cent., is fixed by the associated water." Of 
course, the statist refers, primarily, to land used for 
agricultural purposes ; but his statement is quite correct, 
even when applied to the greatest of our cities. New 
York, for example, owes everything it is to the sea. 
Without the hydrosphere that surrounds the earth, there 
would not be any ocean or rivers. Therefore, there 
would not be any New York, with some of its land 
selling as high as $400 a square foot. "The two hundred 
trillion cubic feet, or ten Mississippis, of annual rainfall 
is, in verity, the sole effective capital of the country," 
continues the Commissioner. 

Without it, the land would be desert, devoid of tree or 
shrub or other living thing. Say five eights of this rainfall 
is evaporated to temper climate, form dews, and redescend 

1 Commissioner W J McGee, in Popular Science Monthly, April, 
1908. 



236 The Mississippi 

m 

elsewhere. A fifth goes down to the sea in rivers. An eighth is 
stored for a time as ground water. The remaining twentieth, 
or half a Mississippi's volume, is stored or used in the onto- 
sphere, — meaning in the living structures and functions of 
animals and plants. The time of storage is short: an animal 
may survive a week, a humid-land annual plant six weeks, or 
a tree six months, without renewed supply. Springs fail, and 
brooks run dry under a three months' drought. Had we a 
rainless year, half the lesser rivers of America would dry up. 
At the end of seven such successive years, the Mississippi 
would cease to flow; within ten years, the lake-fed St. Law- 
rence would be no more. The days of witchcraft and mystery 
about water are ended. Science has risen to show that the 
sources of spring and well and brook and river, of flowing 
sap and pulsing blood are the life-giving benediction of the 
clouds. 

There is found the " true source " of the Mississippi. 




Keokuk. 
(From a Daguerreotype, 1847.) 



CHAPTER XV 
The Mississippi in War 

PRACTICALLY, every mile of " The Father of 
Waters," from Itasca Lake to Natchez, has been 
fought over by antagonistic aboriginal tribes. 
Except near the Mississippi's mouth and in Minnesota, 
conflicts between natives and white men have been of 
small importance. Early Spanish adventurers, seek- 
ing gold and finding it not, vented their disappoint- 
ments upon the natives ; their inhuman conduct is chiefly 
responsible for the deadly hatred displayed by the In- 
dian toward the invaders of his hunting grounds and 
the destroyers of his villages. Pledges of good faith 
made by the strangers were generally broken, and in 
nearly every way the white man fixed the standard for 
treachery that the red man adopted. Tales of Spanish 
brutalities passed from tongue to tongue, through many 
different native languages and dialects, losing nothing 
in repetition, up the length of the mighty river and 
thence, through the Red River of the North, as far as 
the ice-bound coast of Hudson Bay. 

tThe anthropoid of the copper-hued countenance de- 
voted three centuries, a brief space according to his 
spare mind, to " getting even " with the pale-faced 
intruder. 

I — STRUGGLES WITH THE INDIANS 

The French in the North-west tried the blandish- 

237 



238 The Mississippi 

ments of religion and of cajolery. The effect of the 
great feast given by Radisson in the country of the 
Illinois endured for several generations. The example 
of patience under such afflictions as famine and pesti- 
lence was most salutary. Crude, untutored minds 
comprehended that bravery was not entirely confined 
to the war-path and battle-field. The savages saw 
pale, thin-visaged priests come among them, alone and 
unarmed, and they recognised the sublimity of a faith 
that sustained them. They marked the difference be- 
tween the religion of the Spaniard and that of the 
French-Canadian. 

Largely due to the Spaniards who had preceded 
him, Iberville, a French-Canadian military and naval 
commander, sent to Louisiana in 1699, built Fort 
Biloxi and a fort upon the Mississippi; but he paid 
a visit to the Natchez with Tonty and left the country 
without taking the life of a single native. Bienville, 
who succeeded him, and was in turn followed by 
Cadillac, was sent by the latter to attack the same tribe. 
This developed what is known in history as the first 
Natchez war. The pretext for the expedition was the 
murder of four Frenchmen by the Natchez, and Bien- 
ville started with less than sixty soldiers and boatmen 
to make reprisal on a tribe of eight hundred warriors! 
Cadillac hoped for Bienville's defeat, for he had re- 
fused to marry the Governor's daughter, — he, a 
Canadian adventurer, although for a time Governor of 
Louisiana province, had rejected an alliance with the 
proud French family of Cadillac! Bienville employed 
diplomacy, which is another word for falsehopd. He 
went to an island occupied by the Tunicas, not far 
from the Natchez, and sent word that he desired to 




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The Mississippi in War 239 

locate a mill or factory in the Natchez country. The 
chiefs of the latter tribe were suspicious but were finally 
persuaded to visit Bienville. The latter had sent boat- 
men past the Natchez capital, in the darkness of night, 
to post upon the trees afficlies of warning to all French- 
men descending the Mississippi. These untruthfully 
stated : " The Natchez have declared war against the 
French, and IM. de Bienville is encamped at the 
Tunicas." 

The Natchez chiefs arrived at Bienville's head- 
quarters on May 8, 1716. When the calumet was 
offered to him, Bienville declined and demanded re- 
paration for the murder of the Frenchmen. The chiefs 
were greatly surprised, supposing that the French 
Governor at New Orleans was uninformed of the 
tragedy. The envoys were put in chains. At night- 
fall, Bienville sent, for the principal chief, " Great Sun " 
and his two brothers, "The Stung Serpent " and "Little 
Sun," and told them he would spare their lives on con- 
dition that the heads, not merely the scalps, of the mur- 
derers of the four Frenchmen were delivered to him. 
"Blood for blood!" he exclaimed. "I am known as 
' The Arrow of Uprightness ' and * The Tomahawk of 
Justice.' " It was agreed that " Little Sun " should 
return to the Natchez and secure the heads of the mur- 
derers. He came back with three heads, but confessed 
that the principal culprit had fled into the forest; his 
head not being obtainable, that of his brother had been 
brought, instead. Bienville was not satisfied. 

In the meantime, twenty-two Frenchmen and Cana- 
dians, descending the river, had seen Bienville's pro- 
clamations and had joined him. This brought his 
fighting strength to seventy-two men. The Tunicas 



240 The Mississippi 

gave information of an intended attack by the Natchez, 
to release their chiefs. The Tunicas offered forty braves ; 
but Bienville, fearing treacheiy, declined their help. 
That attack was not made, probably owing to a threat 
by Bienville that he would cut the throat of each 
chief, big and little, the moment the Natchez made their 
appearance. The river began to overflow the island 
on which Bienville was encamped ; he therefore executed 
a treaty by which the natives agreed to cut and deliver 
logs for a stockade at Natchez. Bienville released all 
his captives, except one, whom he connected with the 
murders. He, " Chief of the Beard," was shot, in the 
presence of the other captives. Bienville had con- 
quered the Natchez by the trick of getting their chiefs 
into his clutches and keeping them until he secured 
terms that suited him. 

The fort was built by the natives, in keeping with 
their promise, and was occupied on August 3, 1716. 
Thus did two distinct and antagonistic races sit down 
to watch each other. 

Bienville left Aid-Major Pailloux in command at 
the fort and departed for Mobile, where he arrived on 
October 4th. He was rejoiced to find that Cadillac 
had been deposed, and Bienville received a letter from 
the Minister of Marine reappointing him Governor, to 
supplant De I'Epinay, Cadillac's successor. 

Fully a century later, the scene shifts to the upper 
^lississippi. The French and the Chippewas between 
Lake Superior and the Wisconsin River had driven the 
Renards, or Fox Indians to the west bank of the great 
river, where they coalesced with another tribe of the 
Algonquin nation, the Sauks, or Sacs. After the Illi- 
nois country and the western bank of the Mississippi 







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The Mississippi in War 241 

came into the possession of the United States, the Sacs 
and Foxes maintained stubborn resistance to the ad- 
vance of the white man culminating, in 1832, in what 
is known as the "Black Hawk War." Colonel Zachary 
Taylor took an active part in that campaign. The 
leader of the revolt against the Government was " Black 
Hawk," who had been chief of the Sacs for almost fifty 
j^ears. Below Prairie du Chien is Bad Axe River; the ^X 
last engagement of the Black Hawk War was fought ^^ 

five miles south of that point. The Sacs and Foxes 
were defeated by United States troops under General 
Atkinson, and " Black Hawk " was taken prisoner. 
Many battles of this campaign were outside what is 
strictly the Mississippi Valley, although the Sacs and 
Foxes belonged there. 

A perpetual state of war continued between the 
Dakotas (Sioux) and the Ojibwas (Chippewas), for a 
hundred years. The conflict was waged without mercy ! 
The year 1833 was particularly bloody. Almost every 
bend in the Mississippi above the entrance of Crow 
Wing River had its tragedy. A battle that lasted three 
days was fought at the last turn in the river before it 
takes the plunge at St. Anthony. 

The Sioux outbreak in Minnesota in 1862 led by 
" Little Crow," was confined to the Minnesota River 
valley and hardly belongs in this volume; but it was 
probably the last open revolt of the natives that the 
citizens of that region will know, certain troubles with 
Chippewa Indian agents and lumbermen in 1898 being 
settled by arbitration. The Sioux knew that the Civil 
War was in progress and that the arms of the South 
were often triumphant over those of the North. In 
brief, the Indians realised that the white men were 
16 



242 The Mississippi 

fighting among themselves! It appeared to be an aus- 
picious time in which to shake off a galHng yoke and 
to destroy the intruders. The brutahty with which the 
settlers at Redwood and that part of the valley were 
treated was typical of the worst period of aboriginal 
uprisings. 

Fugitives fled down the Minnesota to St. Peters 
(now Mendota), Mankato, and St. Cloud. These 
towns were crowded. Forts Snelling and Ripley were 
places of refuge. Governor Ramsey asked Col. H. H. 
Siblej!^ to take command of the militia and to hurry up 
the Minnesota Valley to the scene of disturbances. A 
detachment of troops and settlers sent from Fort 
Ridgeley, on the Minnesota, to quell disturbances and 
bury the dead at Birch Coolie, a trading post eighteen 
miles to the north-west, was surrounded at night by 
three hundred Sioux, and twelve soldiers and civilians 
killed. This was in the first week of September, 1862. 
Colonel Sibley attacked and captured the main 
band of Little Crow's army. The leaders and all 
participants in the outrages, some thirty odd, were 
hanged.^ 

II — BRITISH FINAL DEFEAT AT NEW ORLEANS 

'jThe splendid and decisive victory of the American 
troops on the Plain of Chalmette — known to history 
as the Battle of New Orleans, a conflict of several days' 
duration, culminating on January 8, 1815 — was as es- 
sential to the future greatness of the American Republic 
as was any engagement of the Revolution. By Louis 
Jonte Meader, a Louisianian author, it has been very 

^ Heard's History of the Sioux War. New York, 1864. 



The Mississippi in War 243 

prettily and accurately described as " our Thermopylae." 
Had that battle been lost, although fought after a treaty 
of peace actually had been signed, and the city of New 
Orleans occupied by British forces, England would have 
attempted to hold what had been known as " The 
Louisiana Province," despite the treaty, under the de- 
fensible claim that the Napoleonic sale of 1803, by which 
the United States acquired the territory from France, 
was void, because that nation did not possess a 
valid title to the Province. The gravity of such a com- 
plication is tremendous, when we remember that another 
war would have been necessary to acquire the vast 
wedge of territory to-day comprising our Western 
States. The Pacific coast might never have become a 
part of this Republic! 

The battle itself was a brilliant achievement, — one 
that will always reflect honour upon the commander and 
credit upon the brave frontiersmen who did such eif ective 
execution upon the enemy. An invading army of four- 
teen thousand, including ten thousand seasoned veteran 
British troops, was crushingly defeated by thirty-two 
hundred raw Kentucky, and Tennessee militia and 
Louisiana Creoles. The disparity of loss was as re- 
markable as the victory and was due to the fact that 
the woodsmen used the musket of the period as an 
arm of precision. 

The abdication of Napoleon at Fontatinebleau, April 
11, 1814, and the temporary pacification of Europe 
consequent on that event, decided the British Cabinet 
to prosecute the war against the United States with 
the utmost vigour. Veterans of the Peninsular Cam- 
paign were re-embarked at Plymouth in the fall, and 
sailed under sealed orders. On their way across the 



244 The Mississippi 

Atlantic, the ships touched at Madeira, October 8th, at 
Barbadoes and had rendezvous at Negro Bay, Jamaica. 
There, the British fleet was joined by four thousand 
troops under General Keane, a young Irish officer 
who had followed from Plymouth. The combined 
forces, in fifty vessels, reached the Louisiana coast 
on November 29th. Anchoring between Ship and Cat 
Islands, near the entrance to Lake Borgne, the com- 
mander of the expedition hoped to land before his pre- 
sence on the coast was known and to take the Americans 
by surprise. Commander Daniel T. Patterson, in 
charge of the Naval Station at New Orleans, received 
word of the presence of the British and sent five gun- 
boats, a tender, and a despatch boat to the passes of 
Mariana and Christian to watch the enemy. A pre- 
liminary fight occurred there. The American vessels, 
under Lieutenant Thomas Catesby-Jones were discov- 
ered by the British. His force consisted of only one 
hundred and eighty-two men and twenty-three guns. 
His flagship was a small sloop of eighty tons. The 
British attacked in sixty barges, under Captain Lockyer, 
and with such overwhelming numbers won a victory, 
giving to them control of Lake Borgne. Troops were 
landed between the 16th and 20th of December, imder 
command of General Keane. 

Jackson had reached Mobile on November 11, 1814, 
after the evacuation of Pensacola by the British and 
Spaniards. There he received despatches from New 
Orleans begging him to hurry to its defence. Several 
English vessels were already in the neighbourhood; 
their commander, Captain Lockyer, was in communi- 
cation with British sympathisers ashore. In this con- 
nection, Lockyer committed a blunder that led to the 



The Mississippi in War 245 

disclosure of his plans by one Jean Lafitte to General 
Jackson. 

Here occurs a highly romantic episode that must 
always be associated with the final grapple of American 
and Briton for the independence of the States. A com- 
munity of smugglers had headquarters on a marshy 
island, Grande Terre, at the Gulf entrance to Barataria 
Bay, sixty miles south-west of New Orleans. This 
broad bit of bay afforded a sheltered harbour, in which 
the small craft of the Baratarians lay in shallow water 
beyond gun reach of ships of the line. Jean Lafitte, 
chief of these outlaw^s, is the American pet buccaneer. 
He is our " Pirate of the Gulf of Mexico," although 
he never was a corsair in the strict sense of the word, 
because never guilty of a crime against humanity but 
only a defier of revenue and neutrality laws. In this 
particular, he differed from Captain Kidd, who was 
an inhuman monster. Kidd was an Englishman. He 
once lived in Wall Street, New York. Curiously, the 
first " Trust " company was organised in his house, 
after he had been hanged in England. He proved his 
fidelity to his mother country by going home for trial 
and execution. Lafitte was born in Bordeaux, France, 
learned the blacksmith's trade there: he came to New 
Orleans, established a forge in St. Philip Street and 
was a law-abiding citizen for several years. But smug- 
gling West Indian liquors and costly French mer- 
chandise into the populous city of New Orleans 
offered much greater prospects of wealth than shoeing 
horses. He assembled a band of associates and settled 
at Grande Terre. It became a smuggler's lair. Never 
outside the Spanish Main was a worse embodiment of 
dauntless courage and cunning than existed in Lafitte's 



246 The Mississippi 

followers. He had several hundred expert gunners and 
sharpshooters. In addition, the Baratarians, as they 
liked to be called, possessed a squadron of swift, well- 
armed vessels that would have been of inestimable 
service to the British commander. Knowing that the 
Government at Washington had proscribed Lafitte and 
that the brother of the Baratarian chief was already in 
l^rison at New Orleans, Captain Lockj^er naturally ex- 
pected to find Lafitte filled with hatred for the United 
States. He was in error. Lafitte had accumulated a 
fortune by unlawful depredations; he wanted to return 
to New Orleans to enjoy it and recognised an oppor- 
tunity to make peace with the Americans. Self-interest, 
therefore, rather than patriotism, may have inspired him 
to send a letter he had received from Captain Lockyer 
to John Blanque, a member of the Louisiana Legisla- 
ture. In an accompanying note, Lafitte said : " Though 
proscribed by my country, I never shall miss an occa- 
sion to serve her, or to prove that she never has ceased 
to be dear to me." 

In his communication to Blanque, he also repeated 
details of interviews with two British officers, who had 
been sent ashore to confer with him and to deliver the 
letter from their commander. Plans of the intended 
British operations against New Orleans were also in- 
closed. To Governor William C. C. Claiborne, Gov- 
ernor of Louisiana, Lafitte addressed the following 
remarkable letter: 

'I offer to restore to this State several citizens who, per- 
haps, in your eyes, have lost the right to that sacred title. I 
offer them, nevertheless, and they are all you could wish to 
find them, — ready to exert their utmost efforts in defence of 
their country. All that I ask is that a stop be put to the 



The Mississippi in War 247 

proscription against me and my adherents by an act of obliv- 
ion for all that has been done in the past. I decline to say 
more on this subject until I have the honour of Your Ex- 
cellency's answer; and should it not be favourable to my 
ardent desires, I declare to you that I shall at once leave the 
country, so that no imputation may be made connecting me 
with the contemplated invasion. 

Governor Claiborne convened a council of leading 
citizens, before which he laid the letters of Lafitte; the 
decision was to reject the offer. An expeditionary force, 
under command of Colonel Ross of the United States 
Army and Commodore Patterson, was sent to Bara- 
taria, which attacked the smuggler's stronghold and 
captured his ships and took many prisoners. The latter 
were taken back to New Orleans and put in prison. 

Governor Claiborne sent copies of the British docu- 
ments and Lafitte's letters to General Jackson, who left 
Mobile for New Orleans on their receipt, arriving De- 
cember 2, 1814. He established his headquarters on 
Royal Street. 

The city was in an undefended condition, but, with 
his characteristic energy, Jackson organised the local 
military forces, obstructed the entrances to the large 
bayous, strengthened the fortifications, — especially im- 
proving Fort St. Philip, on the Mississippi below the 
city. He openly denounced Lafitte, and opposed *' any 
alliance whatever with those infamous bandits," declar- 
ing, in the same breath, that his only hope was to get 
his hands upon them and to hang every one of them. 

While seated at headquarters a few days after the 
affair of Barataria, General Jackson was surprised by 
a call from Jean Lafitte, who, taking his Hfe in his 
hands, braved the sturdy soldier, face to face. Before 



248 The Mississippi 

Jackson could order his arrest, the bandit chieftain re- 
newed his patriotic offers. So well did he argue his 
case that his services were accepted and the two re- 
markable men shook hands. This conversion of Jack- 
son proves the magnetic power of Lafitte, because " Old 
Hickory " was a man of usually inflexible will. All 
judicial proceedings against the Baratarians were sus- 
pended and their release from prison ordered. Jackson 
sent some of these erstwhile pirates to assist in the 
defence of the outlying forts, formed a corps of the 
remainder, which he placed under the command of two 
of their own officers, Dominique You and Bellouche. 
The importance of this acquisition to Jackson's forces 
cannot be overestimated. The Baratarians proved in- 
valuable during the preparations for defence, and, when 
the death-grapple came, their bravery and heroism was 
dramatic in the extreme. Jackson never forgot their 
splendid conduct and made good his promise to secure 
from the President full pardons for every man of them. 
In his general orders of January 21st, after the battle, 
thanking his troops and particularly those from Louisi- 
ana, he mentioned most feelingly the signal bravery 
of Lafitte, Bellouche, You, and their men. 

{ Meanwhile, Jackson put New Orleans under martial 
law and impressed all able-bodied men, except British, 
into military service. He summoned to his aid Gen- 
erals Coffee, Carroll, and Thomas ; and warned General 
Winchester, at Mobile, to be prepared for an attack at 
that point. The British occupied Fisherman's Village, 
at the head of the Bayou Bienvenu, twelve miles from 
New Orleans, seized the Villere plantation, and made it 
their headquarters. Carroll, Coffee, and other reinforce- 
ments had reached Jackson and the following stations 



The Mississippi in War 249 

had been assigned to them : Carroll, at the upper branch 
of the Bayou Bienvenu; Governor Claiborne, with his 
Louisiana militia, farther up the Gentilly road ; Coffee's 
brigade, Planche's and Dankin's battalions, Hinds's 
dragoons, and the New Orleans Rifles, under Captain 
Beale, and a small band of Choctaws, under Captain 
Jugeat, were ordered to assemble at Montreuil's plan- 
tation, thence to proceed to Canal Rodriguez, six miles 
below the city, there to prepare for an assault upon 
the British. Commander Patterson was ordered down 
the Mississippi to the flank of the enemy at Villere's. 

Jackson had run his lines across two plantations, 
from the river to the edge of an almost impenetrable 
swamp that ultimately became a part of Lake Pontchar- 
train. The land lying between the river and the marsh 
was known as the Plain of Chalmette. There the 
famous battle occurred. 

At seven o'clock in the evening of December 23d, the 
schooner Carolina, Captain Henry, anchored off Vil- 
lere's and opened fire upon the British camp, throwing 
the troops into confusion. Thornton, in command of 
the British troops at that point, attacked Jackson and 
was repulsed. Coffee, following the levee, flanked 
Thornton and made his defeat decisive. 

Lieutenant-General Pakenham, " the Hero of 
Salamanca " and fresh from the Peninsular War, 
landed on Christmas day to assume command of the 
British forces, now eight thousand strong. He ad- 
vanced his troops close to the American line of defence 
and began the erection of earthworks near the river. 
The men engaged in this fort-building were attacked 
by Hinds ; but the British destroyed the schooner Caro- 
lina, causing her crew to abandon her. Another en- 



250 The Mississippi 

gagement occurred on the 28th, caused by an advance 
of the British in two columns; Gibbs on the right, Keane 
on the left, with Pakenham, in personal command, in 
the centre. Keane was received with deadly fire and 
forced to fall back. Gibbs, aided by the dauntless 
Rennie who led an assault in person, made some pro- 
gress but was ordered back by the commanding gen-» 
eral. On the 31st, the British attacked again, threw up 
redoubts, in which they mounted thirty guns, manned 
with their best gunners. This battery next day shelled 
Jackson's headquarters, at the chateau of M. Macarte, 
a wealthy Creole, rendering it untenable. Jackson re- 
turned the fire on January 1st, with all artillery that 
could be trained upon the redoubt. The British fled 
and abandoned five guns. 

On January 2d, both armies were strongly re- 
inforced. Brigadier-General John Thomas came with 
two thousand militia from Kentucky; Major-General 
John Lambert, also arrived by sea with Pakenham's own 
regiment, bringing British forces up to ten thousand 
veteran soldiers. The British troops were then divided 
into three brigades, under Keane, Gibbs, and Lambert. 
The American forces were in only two divisions, the 
right under General Ross and the left under Generals 
Carroll and Coffee. Second and third lines of defence 
were thrown up by Jackson. General Morgan was 
posted on the opposite side of the city and divining that 
he would be attacked by Thornton, Jackson sent five 
hundred Kentuckians to Morgan's aid. Thornton as- 
saulted Morgan, causing his men to spike their cannons 
and retreat; Patterson, three hundred yards in Mor- 
gan's rear was next attacked and his troops took refuge 
on board the Louisiana, Thornton, after this success- 



The Mississippi in War 251 

ful foray, rejoined the main army confronting Jackson. 

What is known as the real battle of New Orleans 
began on the following morning. The Americans fired 
the first gun. Lieutenant Spotts opened fire on the 
British; but General Gibbs advanced, under this fire, 
against the Tennesseeans and Kentuckians, who fought 
in a line four deep, protected by cotton bales. The 
accuracy of the woodland sharpshooters under General 
Carroll cut the advancing British line to pieces. 
Pakenham, in person, then led one of his veteran regi- 
ments to the support of Gibbs, and was mortally 
wounded. Keane also supported the assault with the 
famous Ninety-third Highlanders, who drove a wedge 
into the centre of Carroll's defence. Gibbs was fatally 
wounded. Soon after, Keane was wounded and the 
command devolved upon Major Wilkinson, who met 
the fate of his commander-in-chief. Of the nine hundred 
Highlanders, with twenty-nine officers, only two hund- 
red and thirty-five men and nine officers were mustered 
at the close of this assault! All the attacking regiments 
on this part of the field suffered terrible losses. 

The British right was more successful, where Colonel 
Rennie, with one thousand men, advanced in two 
columns, one by the road and the other along the levee 
at the river's bank, taking a redoubt at Jackson's extreme 
right but only holding it a short time, for although 
Rennie succeeded in scalmg the parapet of the Ameri- 
can redoubt, the New Orleans Rifles, under Beale, 
opened a terrific fire upon the heroic enemy, in which 
Rennie was killed. At this juncture, Lafitte, who had 
commanded a battery which was no longer serviceable 
at the close range, called to his lieutenants, Bellouche, 
You, and Sebastiano, to follow him. Seizing cutlasses, 



2 52 The Mississippi 

the pirate patriots swept upon the survivors of the 
assault hke Arab fanatics, and although a few of the 
British sprang into the ditches, Lafitte's men followed 
them there and slew them mercilessly. 

That night Patterson retook his line and at dawn 
opened fire from his former position. His were the 
last guns fired. The battle was over, and the British 
withdrew. Their losses were seven hundred killed, 
fourteen hundred wounded, and five hundred prisoners. 
The American casualties were eight killed and thirteen 
wounded. The British had to fight in the open, while 
the Americans were behind defences. 

The British, under Lambert, wholly withdrew from 
the Mississippi banks on January 19th, and two days 
later reached their fleet. They were prevented from 
further attack upon other unprotected cities by receipt 
of the official despatches announcing the signing of the 
Treaty of Ghent, on December 24th. 

Ill THE CIVIL WAR 

The western frontier of the British colonial pos- 
sessions in North America, even at periods of most 
vain-glorious assumption, never had extended beyond 
the Mississippi. With a stubbornness and an activity 
that did not characterise the Spaniards in any other 
part of the world, the race of Narvaez, De Soto, Ponce 
de Leon, and Coronado claimed and held against French 
and English the vast, unmeasured wilderness beyond 
the mighty river that bisected the North American Con- 
tinent. The same conditions existed when the thirteen 
States freed themselves from the British yoke and be- 
gan to work out their own destiny. No man had 



The Mississippi in War 253 

arisen, who, hke Rameses II. of Egypt, " fixed his 
frontiers where he pleased." 

Thomas Jefferson, as we have seen, aecompHshed 
by one bold stroke the apparently impossible. The 
necessities of Napoleon, the promptitude of Jefferson 
to take advantage of opportunity, the acquisition of 
Florida, the bravery of the Texans, the results of the 
Mexican War, and the Gadsden Purchase extended 
the territory of the United States of America from 
the Atlantic to the Pacific and from the Forty-ninth 
parallel to the Rio Grande. 

When the Civil War tore the Republic into two pieces, 
the prescience of learned tactitians was not necessary to 
comprehend that the rebellion ought to be confined to 
the region east of the national waterway. The prob- 
lem of blockading the Atlantic and Gulf ports of the 
Confederacy is sufficient to excuse the Lincoln Adminis- 
tration for not taking prompt possession of the Mis- 
sissippi from Saint Louis to the Gulf. The South was 
in a condition of preparedness; the North was in a 
state little better than panic. The slave States of Mis- 
souri, Arkansas, Texas, and three quarters of Louisi- 
ana lay west of the Mississippi. All of them were 
prompt to put troops into the field in behalf of the 
Confederacy. The importance of segregating them 
from the rest of their southern associates was too 
obvious to be discussed. 

The troubles in Missouri delayed the seizure of im- 
portant strategic points on the river below. A gov- 
ernor of that State declared for the Confederacy, 
organised rebellion to the national Government, and as- 
sembled hostile troops. Saint Louis was more turbu- 
lentlv rebellious than Baltimore. Months of valuable 



254 The Mississippi 

time were lost in securing conditions of semi-peaceful- 
ness within its borders. Although the battles in Mis- 
souri distinctly belong to the reconquest of the 
Mississippi, they need not be gone into. The redemp- 
tion of the Mississippi does not begin with the trifling 
and inconsequential fight at Belmont, almost under the 
guns of Columbus, then held by the Confederates, but 
with the occupation of Cairo, at the mouth of the Ohio 
River, by Ulysses Simpson Grant, then thirty-nine 
years of age. He possessed a West Point training and 
had seen active service in the Mexican War, — at every 
battle except Buena Vista. Curiously, in that cam- 
paign he had attracted the attention of General Scott's 
staff officer, Robert E. Lee, whom he was afterwards 
to confront in Virginia and defeat in the final campaign 
of the Civil War. 

Had Polk seized Cairo, as he intended, and had 
other Confederate generals fastened hold upon Paducah 
and Louisville, the probabilities are that Kentucky and 
Tennessee would have* been dragged into the Con- 
federacy, however unwillingly. Grant's second act was 
to occupy Paducah, at the mouth of the Tennessee 
River. The junction of the Cumberland with the Ohio 
was less than ten miles distant. This coup made pos- 
sible the subsequent flotilla advance upon Forts Henry 
and Donelson. Grant's immediate objective point was 
Columbus, situated a short distance below Cairo, on 
the Kentucky side of the Mississippi, where General 
Polk had a considerable Confederate force; but a de- 
scent of the great river would have been bad military 
art, as long as formidable bodies of the enemy occupied 
fortified points at Forts Henry and Donelson, on the 
Tennessee and Cumberland rivers, at the Tennessee 



The Mississippi in War 255 

State line. The extreme right of the Confederate de- 
fence rested upon BowHng Green, Kentucky. 

Forts Henry and Donelson 

The movement upon the centre of the Confederate 
line was inaugurated on January 30, 1862. Grant, 
with a force of seventeen thousand men on transports, 
escorted by four armoured and three unarmoured gun- 
boats under Commodore Foote, began the ascent of 
the Tennessee River. Here started a campaign that 
was to include the victories at Forts Henry and Donel- 
son and the two days' battle at Shiloh, and to culminate 
in the siege and capture of Vicksburg. It is doubtful 
if Grant expected this flank movement on the Missis- 
sippi's fortified places to develop into a year and a 
half of activity. This land campaign, b}^ which the 
Confederate positions at Columbus, Fort Pillow, and 
Memphis were turned is as much a part of the Mis- 
sissippi's conquest as are the battles of New Madrid 
and Island No. 10. 

Taking events in their chronological sequence, the 
fall of Fort Henry was inevitable, owing to the sud- 
denness of the attack by Grant and Foote. Its com- 
mandant, General Tighman, sent all of his thirty-four 
hundred men, except ninety-six, to Fort Donelson and 
maintained a show of fight until their retreat across 
the twelve-mile neck of land separating the two rivers 
and forts had been accomplished. Then he surrend- 
ered. The importance of the capture was that a new 
base for operating against Fort Donelson was created. 
A good and direct road connected the two places. 
Meanwhile, Foote's armed flotilla had to descend the 



256 The Mississippi 

Tennessee to the Ohio and to ascend the Cumberland 
to a position for using its guns upon Donelson. Fort 
Henry was occupied on February 6th. 

The advance of the troops upon Donelson began the 
morning of the surrender of Henry. This fort occupied 
a fine position upon a plateau, elevated a hundred feet 
above the Cumberland, and consisted of " two water- 
batteries on the hillside, protected by a bastioned earth- 
work of irregular outline on the summit, enclosing one 
hundred acres." ^ Along the western ridge of the 
plateau was a line of fortifications for field artillery 
and some rifle-pits. About the time Grant had de- 
ployed his troops, General Floyd, who had been 
Buchanan's Secretary of War, superseded General 
Pillow and took over the command of the eighteen 
thousand Confederates. 

The first assault was ordered by Grant on the 13th. 
It was little more than a reconnaissance in force. The 
fleet and transports arrived next day with five thousand 
fresh troops. Seven mortar-boats rendered valuable 
service. The Confederate water battery was shelled at 
a nearness of six hundred yards, although the gunboats 
finally were driven away. About daylight of the 15th, 
Pillow, with eight thousand men, attempted a sortie 
directed against McClernand who held the road to 
Charlotte, and opened a way of escape. Had Floyd 
acted promptly, he might have got away with his en- 
tire force. But, Pillow spent the precious hours in 
another attack upon Lew Wallace until Grant had 
time to reach the field and take personal command. 
He saw that a fight to a finish then and there was 
inevitable. He ordered a general charge upon all the 
1 Rise and Fall of the Confederate Government, pp. 11-28. 



The Mississippi in War 257 

outlying earthworks, which resulted in carrying the 
ridge and extending the Federal line completely around 
the bastioned fortress. With the aid of the mortar- 
boats, escape by land was completely cut off, and the 
Confederates had lost in the fight about two thousand 
men. During the darkness of that night, Floyd and 
Pillow escaped up the Cumberland in a boat. The 
" unconditional surrender " by Buckner of Fort Donel- 
son occurred next morning (16th) , and included fifteen 
thousand prisoners, sixty-eight cannons, and seventeen 
thousand muskets. This Federal victory was im- 
mediately followed by the evacuation of Columbus by 
Polk, who burned his buildings and went by steamer 
to New Madrid. 

In the field, Corinth, Mississippi, became the natural 
point for Confederate concentration. Grant sent his 
transports to the Tennessee and began to move troops 
and provisions up that river to the nearest location for 
a base of attack upon that town. Thus was Pittsburg 
Landing chosen ; and Shiloh church, about two miles back 
from the river, became the scene of a two day's battle that 
has provoked more controversy than any other event 
of the Civil War. 

Meanwhile, Commodore Foote's squadron had been 
ordered to dislodge the Confederates from Island No. 
10, in the Mississippi, almost opposite New Madrid, to 
which place General Polk had sent one hundred and 
forty guns from Columbus and part of his force. 

Brigadier-General W. T. Sherman occupied Colum- 
bus on March 4th. Brigadier-General John Pope was 
on his way through Missouri and arrived before New 
Madrid, on that shore of the Mississippi, March 3d. A 
siege of a month followed. Foote was banging away 



258 The Mississippi 

at the fortifications on Island No. 10, disabhng gun 
after gun; and Pope was gradually tightening the lines 
about the town on the mainland. Polk surrendered to 
Pope on April 7th, about seven thousand men. 

The intention of the Federals was to move down 
the Mississippi in transports, guarded by Foote's gun- 
boats, to Fort Pillow, a defensive position created by 
the Confederates upon a high bluff on the Tennessee 
side. Plans were made for a combined attack from land 
and river on the 17th; but orders came from Halleck 
directing Pope to reinforce Grant at Pittsburg Land- 
ing for the attack on Corinth. Troops were hurried 
aboard the transports which steamed up-stream, en 
route for the Tennessee River. Fort Pillow was left 
to its own destruction. It was subsequently abandoned. 

Shiloh 

Albert Sidney Johnston was in command of the 
rapidly assembling Confederate forces at Corinth. That 
a great battle would be fought in that vicinity was ob- 
vious, even to General Halleck. Troops were hurried 
thither from many parts of the Gulf States. The flight 
of Floyd and Pillow had disgraced them in the eyes of 
the Confederate Government and they were removed 
from all command. Johnston's chief aid was Beau- 
regard, who had ordered Fort Sumter fired upon, thus 
precipitating the war, and had covered himself with 
Southern laurels at Bull Run. Braxton Bragg was 
brought from Pensacola, with eleven thousand men. 

The choice of Pittsburg Landing, as a base of Fed- 
eral operations upon Corinth, was made by Geri. W. 
F. Smith. Endless discussion has arisen regarding 



The Mississippi in War 259 

the wisdom of selecting a site upon the west bank of the 
Tennessee, by that act, putting the river behind the 
Federal troops instead of in front of them. The Count 
de Paris did not settle the dispute when he declared in his 
History of the Civil War in the United States that " the 
position was extremely well chosen." It was a fight- 
ing man's selection, made for another fighting man! 
Smith and Grant were of the same metal. It is fair 
to state that Beauregard had seen the strategic import- 
ance of the bluff at Pittsburg Landing and had occupied 
it prior to the arrival of the gunboats; but these had 
shelled his small garrison and driven it away before 
Smith's arrival. 

As long as the boats held the river, the position was 
a strong one, — a quadrilateral enclosed on three sides, 
by a river and two deep creeks, with an opening to the 
south-west toward Corinth. This latter feature was 
fully recognised as the weakness of the position, and the 
contention of critics always will be that a triple or 
quadruple line of Federal videttes should have been 
posted along the Corinth highway. From left to right, 
facing this obvious point of assault, if one were to be 
made, lay the commands of Stuart, Prentiss, Sherman, 
and McClernand. Inside this line were Hurlbut, and 
William Wallace, who had taken over W. F. Smith's 
command. Lew Wallace was on the Purdy road, near 
Crump's Landing, five miles to the northward. Buell's 
army was anxiously expected, because his advance guard 
under Nelson, had reached Savannah, a landing on the 
east side of the river eight miles from Pittsburg. 

With an impetuosity that carried everything before 
it, Johnston attacked in great force at 5.30 on the raw 
Sunday morning of April 6th. The Confederate troops 



26o The Mississippi 

had deployed during the night within less than half a 
mile of the Federal lines. The blow brought conster- 
nation to the troops of Prentiss, upon whom it fell. If 
it came not as a surprise, it was followed by a panic. 
Many prisoners were taken in their beds. Grant had 
his headquarters at Savannah and McClernand was the 
only Major-General on the firing line, which did not 
possess a single rifle-pit or other defence. 

Johnston's attack was made in three parallel lines 
of ten thousand men each, separated by half a mile. 
Hardee led, followed by Bragg, and in the last line, 
intended to cover and extend the flanks, were Polk with 
ten thousand on the extreme left and Breckinridge with 
six thousand on the right. In addition to the thirty-six 
thousand infantry, some excellent Confederate cavalry, 
that could have been used in the open, were valueless in 
the underbrush of the forests. Of the forty thousand 
Federal troops. Lew Wallace's seven thousand men did 
not arrive in time to participate in the first day's fight. 

Grant reached the battle-field at eight o'clock and 
sent an order to Lew Wallace to advance at once. 
Owing to a blunder in the transmission of the verbal 
message or to ignorance of the roads, Wallace's com- 
mand did not make those five sloughy miles until seven 
o'clock at night, at which time the Federal line had 
been driven back fully one mile, contesting every foot. 
Prior to Sunday noon, great disorganisation reigned in 
several parts of the Federal line. The loss of human 
life was terrible. About 2.30 in the afternoon, General 
Johnston sitting on his horse in the open was hit by a 
rifle ball that severed an artery in his leg. It was not 
a fatal wound, but Johnston paid no attention to his 
injury until he suddenly collapsed and died from loss of 



The Mississippi in War 261 

blood. President Davis asserted, years afterward, that 
" the southern cause perished then and there, on the 
field of Shiloh." General Beauregard succeeded to the 
command. 

At six o'clock in the afternoon, twenty-two hundred 
of Prentiss's men were surrounded and captured by the 
Confederates, and William Wallace, who was command- 
ing Smith's brigade, was mortally wounded. Before 
dark, the gunboats took part in the battle and probably 
checked the advance to Pittsburg Landing. Nelson 
was the Bliicher of the day. He arrived in time to 
cross the river and to defend the landing of McCook 
and the rest of Buell's army. 

The splendid bravery of the Confederates had not 
given to them decisive victory. Bragg advocated a final 
charge after nightfall, but Beauregard ordered a cessa- 
tion of hostilities. " The battle is lost in that event! " 
exclaimed Bragg, protestant. Beauregard's defence of 
his action is to be found in Battles and Leaders (i., 590) . 
He knew that fresh troops were crossing the river and 
believed a repulse of the charge suggested by Bragg to 
be inevitable. 

In the Federal ranks, Prentiss was the chief hero of 
that terrible Sunday, because his command stood the 
brunt of the attack. About dark, Lew Wallace and 
Nelson each added seven thousand men to the Federal 
forces almost simultaneously. Crittenden arrived 
during the night. 

Monday morning saw the Federal line, stretching 
from a bayou of the river (reading from left to right), 
held by Majors-General Nelson, Crittenden, McCook, 
McClernand, and Lew Wallace. Confronting them 
were the four divisions, right to left, of Hardee, Breck- 



262 The Mississippi 

inridge, Polk, and Bragg. Grant assumed the aggres- 
sive at dayhght. Nelson's fresh troops were thrown 
against Hardee's ; Lew Wallace, anxious to retrieve the 
misfortunes of the previous day that had kept him out 
of the fight, made a savage attempt to get possession 
of the Corinth road in the rear of the Confederates. 
McCook did some brilliant work at the centre. Al- 
though Lew Wallace did not wholly succeed in his 
efforts, he compelled the beginning of a retreat by 
Beauregard that only ended when the defences of 
Corinth had been reached. During Monday afternoon. 
Generals Wood and Thomas, with twelve thousand 
fresh troops arrived, and Grant has been criticised be- 
cause he did not follow and harass his retreating foe. 

The battles of luka and Corinth were supplements 
of Shiloh. The Confederacy had shot its bolt in that 
battle, and, although the result was indecisive, the 
Southern arms had suffered losses that could not be 
repaired. Corinth fell by force of circumstances. 

New Orleans 

Upon the insistence of President Lincoln, as early as 
January of that year (1862), the assembling of a fleet 
of naval vessels and transports, for the capture of New 
Orleans and the opening of the lower part of the Mis- 
sissippi River, had been actively begun. Wooden 
frigates and gunboats selected carried one hundred and 
fifty guns of various calibres. A lot of extemporised 
mortar-boats were added. The expedition was sup- 
plemented by a land force of about thirteen thousand 
troops, and Benjamin F. Butler was given command 
of them. The fleet commander was David Glasgow 



The Mississippi in War 263 

Farragut, who, although a Tennesseean by birth, never 
had faltered in his fidelity to the Union. 

There was not an armoured vessel in Farragut's 
fleet when it assembled in April off the mouth of the 
Mississippi. The debt of naval architecture to the de- 
signers of the Merrimac and the Monitor had already 
been recognised in the historic encounter at Hampton 
Roads, and the utter worthlessness of wooden ships 
against armoured ones was admitted. Farragut's flag- 
ship was the old Hartford, twenty-five guns; and with 
her were the Brooklyn, Richmond, and Pensacola, even 
inferior to her as fighting machines. Commander Porter, 
son of a famous United States naval officer, and who was 
afterwards to become an admiral of the Navy, com- 
manded an auxiliary flotilla of nineteen mortar-boats, 
each having a thirteen-inch mortar for throwing spheri- 
cal shells. Its work in the subsequent battles at New 
Orleans and Vicksburg proved to be of the highest 
importance. 

The distance by the Mississippi from the Gulf to 
'New Orleans is one hundred and twenty miles, and two 
antiquated forts, located at Plaquemine Bend, about 
ninety miles south of the city, had been strengthened 
to such a degree that the Confederates felt sanguine of 
their effectiveness. Fort St. Philip stood upon the right 
bank and twenty-four hundred feet farther down- 
stream, upon the left bank, was Fort Jackson. The 
former was an open work and mounted fifty-three guns, 
but the latter was a casemated structure, with a ditch, 
and possessed seventy-five guns, some of heavy calibre. 
These strongholds had been well provisioned, were se- 
cure from land attack because of their positions upon 
the narrow strip of soil that served as a dyke to 



264 The Mississippi 

separate the river from the Gulf, and each was garri- 
soned by seven hundred men. A few water batteries had 
been begun between Plaquemine and New Orleans, but 
they had not been brought to any condition of arma- 
ment, because the defence afforded by the two forts was 
considered ample. A line of schooners had been an- 
chored across the river, held together by the heaviest 
anchor chains. Ten small armoured vessels were kept 
above Fort St. Philip; but the chief menace afloat — in 
the light of the devastation wrought by the Merrimac 
upon wooden ships in Hampton Roads prior to the 
arrival of the Monitor — was an iron-armoured ram, the 
Manassas, and the Louisiana, a small corvette, the bul- 
warks of which had been cut down and a sloping deck, 
similar in form to that of the Merrimac, added. This 
iron-covered superstructure and gun-deck carried six- 
teen cannons of large calibre for that period. The 
naval part of the Confederate equipment was under 
Commander John Mitchell; but several of the smaller 
vessels, furnished by the city authorities, had been given 
into the charge of a river captain, and conflict of authority 
was inevitable. General Duncan was in chief command 
of the Confederate land forces, with Lieutenant- 
Commander Higgins at Fort Jackson. In the city of 
New Orleans were as few as three thousand troops, all 
others having been drawn to support Johnston in his 
attack upon Pittsburg Landing. 

Farragut was in readiness on April 16th, and began 
to get his ships across the bar. It was before the days 
of the Eads Jetties, and great trouble was experienced 
with shallow water at the mouth of the river. Porter's 
light-draft vessels were hurried up-stream and anchored 
close to Fort Jackson, behind the narrow neck of land 







"3 



The Mississippi in War 265 

formed by a sharp bend in the river, — which in front 
of the forts flowed ahnost west. The mortar-boats were 
sheltered from view by a dense forest, but as an addi- 
tional means of confusing the men on watch at Fort 
Jackson, the tops of the masts were trimmed with 
boughs from the adjacent trees. The appearance of 
the snug little flotilla recalled the advance of the woods 
of Dunsinane. 

Porter began the bombardment of Fort Jackson on 
the 18th and during its continuance for five days and 
nights threw about seventeen thousand shells, exceeding 
one per minute. So accurate were the calculations of 
the gunners that Fort Jackson became a mass of ruins. 
Attempts to shell Fort St. Philip, half a mile farther 
up-stream, were not successful; but its guns were not 
so formidable as those at Fort Jackson had been. 

At the end of five daj^s, Farragut's patience was 
exhausted. Porter's argument was that it would be un- 
wise to run past the forts, even if it could be success- 
fully achieved, leaving formidable places of defence in 
the rear. In other words, he feared that the fleet might 
be " bottled up " at New Orleans. While the bombard- 
ment had been in progress. Lieutenant Caldwell had 
been directed to take the two little steamers Pinola and 
Itasca — how interesting that the name of the then ac- 
credited source of the Mississippi should have been thus 
attached to the battle at the mouth of the river! — and 
break through the line of chained vessels that blocked 
a passage-way up-stream. He successfully accom- 
plished the hazardous undertaking on the night of April 
20th. After failing to explode a mine under the cen- 
tral vessel of the row, he worked round an end of the 
line, in shallow water, ran up-stream a short distance. 



266 The Mississippi 

turned, and at full headway came down upon the chain, 
breaking it, causing the vessels to drag their anchors 
and to swing to right and to left, leaving the centre 
of the river open. It was glorious service that the little 
Itasca rendered that dark night. 

Four nights later, at two o'clock, Farragut's squad- 
ron got under way. Everj^ conceivable means had been 
adopted to protect the magazines and boilers and all 
light rigging bad been taken down. The credit of 
leadership was given to Captain Bailey of the Cayuga. 
After him came the sloops Pensacola and Mississippi, 
the corvettes Oneida and Varuna, and the gunboats 
Katahdin, Kineo, and Wissahickon. What was left of 
the batteries in the two forts did everything possible 
to destroy the ships. At this point, the gunboats, five 
in number, closed in, going within two hundred yards 
of the shore, and threw sufficient grape and canister to 
drive the men from the guns of Fort Jackson. The 
armoured ram, Manassas, failing to injure the Pensa- 
cola, attacked the Mississippi. Owing to the attention 
given to the other ships, Bailey got the Cayuga past 
the forts without serious injury and became hotly en- 
gaged with the ships above. The Varuna set four of 
the enemy's ships afire, but in the contest was so seri- 
ously injured that she had to be run ashore to save 
the crew, which was rescued by the Oneida. The 
Cayuga destroyed three of the enemy's boats; but one 
got away to New Orleans. 

About that time the Hartford, with Farragut 
aboard, and the Brooklyn had arrived opposite Fort 
St. Philip when the most serious complication of the 
night occurred. A fire-raft was observed coming down- 
stream, pushed by a plucky tugboatman. The channel 




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The Mississippi in War 267 

was not broad at that point, and as the raft held to 
its centre, despite a storm of grape-shot poured into 
the tugboat behind it, the Hartford tried to avoid the 
blazing danger and went upon a bar. The raft was 
jammed against the side of the flag-ship and the flames 
leaped into the rigging. Farragut's supreme coolness 
at that time enabled the crew to extinguish the burn- 
ing mass, after which the Hartford backed into the 
channel and, with thirty odd holes in her hull, proceeded. 
While this crisis was occurring, the Brooklyn was 
rammed by the Manassas^ far under the water-line, but 
the hole was plugged and the dangerous ram driven 
off. Three of the Federal gunboats met with mis- 
fortune, among them the Itasca, that had so gloriously 
distinguished herself by breaking the line of obstruc- 
tions on the night of the 20th. The Manassas followed 
the squadron almost to New Orleans, where, again at- 
tacked by the Mississippi that she had rammed early 
in the fight, she ran ashore, was set afire by shells from 
the attacking boat, and finally blew up. 

The actual engagement with the two forts lasted 
less than one hour and a half. 

A battery was encountered on the eastern shore, 
not far from the historic battle-field on the Plain of 
Chalmette, where " Old Hickory," with his Tennessee 
squirrel and Indian hunters had defeated the British 
veterans of the Napoleonic campaigns. 

When the Federal squadron anchored off the Cres- 
cent City, the people of the town were not complaisant. 
The Cayuga went to a wharf -head and Captain Bailey, 
accompanied by Lieutenant Perkins, walking alone to 
the City Hall, demanded from the mayor the surrender 
of the city. The mayor temporised and, as the 



268 The Mississippi 

demand could not be enforced until General Butler 
arrived with troops, the Confederate flag continued to 
float over the municipal building. Of course, Farragut 
could have shelled the city, but he never contemplated 
such an act of barbarism. Porter, who had remained 
near the forts, compelled their surrender on April 27th. 
The ascent of the transports followed, but before Butler 
arrived on the 29th, a small body of marines had landed 
and replaced the Confederate flag over the City Hall 
with the Stars and Stripes. No sooner had the marines 
departed than a man named Mumford tore down the 
Federal flag, carried it to the street, where the populace 
trampled it in the mud and afterwards tore it into frag- 
ments. One of General Butler's first acts was to order 
the trial by court-martial of Mumford for " insult to 
the Federal flag." He was condemned to be hanged 
and was summarily executed. The Count de Paris did 
not think Mumford ought to have been hanged, but 
the people of New Orleans never shed a tear for him. 
He was a worthless fellow, like the chap, who, earlier 
in the war, had killed Ellsworth at Alexandria. 

Several historians agree that the capture of New 
Orleans prevented a recognition of the Confederacy's 
independence by the Emperor of France, Napoleon III. 
That any negotiations were pending between foreign 
emissaries of the Confederate Government, looking to a 
surrender of a portion of Southern territory as a 
military base from which France could with greater 
assurance of success invade Mexico, is highly improb- 
able. Much as Mr. Davis and his Cabinet would have 
welcomed Napoleon III.'s recognition of independence, 
any attempt to grant a foothold for French arms upon 
the Rio Grande would have met with stubborn opposi- 




C J 



y. 



bjo 



The Mississippi in War 269 

tion from the most devoted adiierents of " the sacred 
cause," and the Texans would have resented it to a man. 
Vicksburg became the objective point. It alone 
impeded the free passage of Federal traffic the entire 
length of the navigable river. 

Vicksburg 

The Vicksburg campaign naturally divided itself 
into two distinct enterprises, the first wholly military 
and the second naval-military. An unsuccessful at- 
tempt by Grant and Sherman in 1862 to capture it 
becomes purely episodical considered in relation to the 
subsequent siege, which covers a period of twelve 
months. Farragut was restrained from proceeding to 
Vicksburg by the Washington government. At any 
time during that previous month of IVIay, a few thou- 
sand men, accompanied by the gunboats of Farragut's 
squadron, could have seized Vicksburg and held it. 
The adjacent Federal army then could have been 
provisioned by river from North and South. 

The Vicksburg problem, by the time it was put up 
to Grant, was one of grave seriousness and complexity. 
For this delay, which probably added half a year to the 
life of the rebellion, General Halleck always has been 
blamed. It was a misfortune to South and North 
alike. Farragut, with the same impetuosity he had 
shown at the forts, had attacked the batteries at Vicks- 
burg on June 28, 1862, and passed them only to find 
the city impregnable to attack from the river. He 
once more ran the batteries on July 15th, returning to 
New Orleans. 

General Grant urgently suggested the investment 



270 The Mississippi 

of Vicksburg and the destruction of the boats and traffic 
on the Yazoo River, but Halleck took no notice of the 
letter and Grant, after being kept idle at Corinth for 
months, of his own voHtion moved to Grand Junction 
and La Grange. The latter place is sixty miles east 
of Memphis, which had been occupied during the 
summer bj^ Sherman, after the abandonment of Forts 
Pillow and Randolph. Grant then asked permission 
to move down the Mississippi Central Railroad to Holly 
Springs and Halleck consented. 

About this time, Grant's troubles with McClernand, 
who had been his subordinate, began. The latter se- 
cured a leave of absence, went to Washington, and per- 
suaded President Lincoln to organise an expedition to 
proceed against Vicksburg and to open the JMississippi 
to New Orleans. General Grant, on December 8th, 
sent Sherman to Memphis, with one division, where 
he was to mobilise all the troops he could gather; then 
proceed down the river and, assisted by Porter's gun- 
boats, to reduce Vicksburg. Although McClernand 
had been directed to command such an expedition, a 
message wired to Sherman to that effect never reached 
him. Forrest had cut the telegraph lines. Sherman's 
expedition was then readj^ to start, and, in ignorance 
of McClernand's assignment, its commander was at 
Vicksburg before McClernand had crossed the Ohio 
River. 

Sherman had asked the chief quartermaster at Saint 
Louis to furnish transports for thirty thousand men 
at Memphis at the earliest date. Sixty-seven steamboats 
arrived at Memphis December 19th, and embarkation 
began. Porter's gunboats were already at anchor off that 
city. Leaving Memphis on the 20th, a stop was made 



The Mississippi in War 271 

at Helena next day to take aboard Steele's division, and 
the boats ran their bows against the bank at Millikens 
Bend, twenty miles up-stream from Vicksburg, before 
dawn of the 25th. There, A. J. Smith's division was 
landed to cut the railroad to Shreveport, which had 
brought large quantities of supplies to the beleaguered 
city. The three other divisions went to the mouth of 
the Yazoo, anc^ ascending that stream fourteen miles, 
disembarked. Smith's division was reunited with the 
main force next day, having destroyed the railroad to 
the west. Sherman hoped to take Vicksburg with his 
thirty thousand men, but, if that was impossible, he 
intended to cut the railroad to Jackson and, with the 
co-operation of Grant's army, to isolate the town. 
The hope of a surprise failed utterly; raids by For- 
rest and Van Dorn destroyed the other part of the 
plan. 

General Forrest was raiding the region between 
the Tennessee and Mississippi rivers and eluding 
Grant's efforts to capture him. He fought about a 
dozen skirmishes and battles but succeeded in return- 
ing east of the Tennessee, after he had broken up 
Grant's railroad communication with Columbus, his 
base of supplies. Meanwhile, Van Dorn, another Con- 
federate cavalry general, successfully surprised Holly 
Springs and took fifteen hundred prisoners. He 
burned Grant's supplies at that place, valued at 
$1,500,000. The efforts of these two raiders compelled 
Grant to retire to Grand Junction, Corinth, and 
Memphis. 

The Confederates began to pour troops into Vicks- 
burg. Pemberton went thither from the field. Sher- 
man soon faced twelve thousand men, intrenched. The 



272 The Mississippi 

bluff on which the city stands has a height of two hund- 
red feet, which enabled the Confederates to maintain 
close observation of every movement of Sherman's 
troops in the Yazoo Valley. On December 29th, 
Sherman made an assault upon an intrenched Con- 
federate position at the top of a slope. The attack 
was unsuccessful. The loss of life was severe, namely, 
one hundred and ninety-one killed, ninety-eight 
wounded, and seven hundred and fifty-six missing. 
The Confederate losses were inconsiderable. It 
was a Federal defeat and resulted in orders from 
Washington despatching Grant to the scene. The 
year 1862 closed dismally for the Federal cam- 
paign. 

General Grant reached Memphis on January 10, 
1863, and prepared to go to the aid of Sherman at 
Vicksburg. The project of a movement by river and 
land was abandoned. An opinion of General Francis 
V. Greene, who has written a book on this subject, is 
that the original plan for an advance upon Vicksburg, 
dowTi the Mississippi from Memphis is worthy of de- 
fence and discussion. " The risks of such a movement 
were far less than those of the final campaign from 
Bruinsburg, through Jackson to Haines's Bluff," says 
General Greene. He also points out that " a direct 
movement from Memphis against the rear of Vicksburg 
was the one suggested by Grant in his letter to Halleck, 
of October 26th." There was not any co-operation from 
New Orleans as had been expected. General N. P. 
Banks had reached that city to supersede Butler on 
December 14th; and he sent a large force, without dis- 
embarking, to occupy Baton Rouge, which was done 
without resistance. An attack was not made on Port 



The Mississippi in War 273 

Hudson until three months had passed. Its siege by- 
Banks was dependent upon the success of General 
Grant at Vicksburg. On March 14, 1863, Farragut, 
(promoted to be rear-admiral on July 16, 1862), at- 
tempted to run the batteries at Port Hudson with a 
fleet of vessels but succeeded only in passing with his 
flag-ship, the Hartford^, and a gunboat, which was lashed 
to her side. 

When JMcClernand relieved Sherman, after the fail- 
ure of the assault on Chickasaw Bluffs, — the super- 
sedence having been decreed weeks before and not 
coming as a rebuke for defeat, — Sherman organised an 
expedition against Arkansas Post, up the Arkansas 
River. The engagement he fought there, on January 
11th, was entirely successful. A Confederate fort that 
had interfered with traffic on that river was captured, 
several thousand prisoners taken, and sixty-six guns, 
and the place destroyed. It was a small affair, but 
Sherman was rehabilitated. 

But the first movement against Vicksburg had been 
a disappointment and Grant began all over again. 

After the harassing raids of Forrest and Van Dorn 
had been in part repaired. Grant began the investment 
of Vicksburg. Five distinct battles and continuous 
skirmishes occurred east of Vicksburg, all successful 
to the Federal cause. Porter ran the batteries on the 
night of April 16th, with the Benton, Lafayette, Louis- 
ville, Mound City, Pittsburg, and Carondelet; followed 
by three transports, convoyed by the gunboat, Tus- 
cumbia. In the passage up-stream, these vessels were 
under fire for two hours but only one vessel was lost, 
the transport, Henry Clay. All the men aboard it 
were taken off by another steamer. 



2 74 The Mississippi 

After preliminary fighting on the Big Black River 
on May 17, 1863, made memorable by Lawler's charge 
in his shirt-sleeves, Grant ordered an assault on Vicks- 
burg on May 22d. It was unsuccessful. He then 
decided upon a siege. 

The jMississippi was in Federal hands from Port 
Hudson to Vicksburg. This city was admirably de- 
fensible. Eight roads led into it from the East. The 
Confederate line was n-regular, because it followed the 
crest of a ridge from the Yazoo River at the north, 
first eastward, then southward to the Jackson road 
(three miles behind the city), thence south-westerly to 
the Mississippi bank. Deep ravines lay in front. 
Grant's line of investment extended from Haines's Bluff 
(on the Yazoo) at the north, fifteen miles to Bruins- 
burg and thence to the Mississippi. Operating on 
lower ground, Grant's problem was more difficult than 
that of the Confederates. While intrenching, the ef- 
ficiency of Grant's sharpshooters kept the engineers and 
workmen from serious interference. In few places were 
his lines of rifle-pits more than six hundred yards dis- 
tant from the enemy. Many negroes, paid by the day, 
helped on the fortifications. 

The first important engagement in the Civil War 
in which coloured troops took part was on the west side 
of the Mississippi, during this siege, at Millikens Bend, 
(June 7, 1863), where they showed excellent fight- 
ing qualities. An attack by the Confederates was 
repulsed. 

Grant's forces at Vicksburg had been so strongly 
reinforced that on June 14th, he had seventy-one thou- 
sand men. He relieved INIcClernand of the command 
of the Thirteenth Army Corps on the 19th and sent 



'• mt y/. 




p 
^ 



M 






OJ 

^ 



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The Mississippi in War 275 

him back to IlHnois. The cause was a flamboyant 
order by McClernand, praising his own men to the 
prejudice of other troops. 

Grant had two hundred and twenty guns mounted 
by June 30th, but the grave menace of Johnston's army 
in the rear still existed. Intercepted messages from the 
latter to Pemberton indicated that he was about to 
move westward to raise the siege of Vicksburg. This 
necessitated two lines for Grant, — an emergency for 
which he had carefully prepared, — one facing Johnston 
and the other confronting the beleaguered city. A 
mine had been exploded on June 25th, but the crater 
had not been sufficiently large to admit the entrance 
of the Federal column. In this situation, a general 
assault was determined upon by Grant. The date was 
fixed for the 6th; but at 10 a.m. on the 3d, white flags 
appeared over parts of the Confederate works. Pem- 
berton sent a member of his staff with a letter to Grant. 
The Federal General would not entertain any terms 
but "unconditional surrender"; after personal inter- 
views between the two commanders, however, and an 
all-night parley with his own general officers, some 
modifications were made by Grant. He agreed to parole 
the troops, to permit Confederate officers to wear their 
side arms, and to allow all staff officers one horse. On 
the night of July 3d, General Grant summoned all his 
division commanders, which, he says in his Memoirs 
was " the nearest approach to a ' council of war ' I 
ever held." The surrender occurred on July 4th, the 
day on which was completed the victory at Gettys- 
burg. Grant says : " The fate of the Confederacy 
was sealed when Vicksburg fell. Much hard fighting 
was to be done afterward and many precious lives 



276 The Mississippi 

sacrificed; but the morale was with the supporters of 
the Union ever after." 

Port Hudson surrendered to General Banks on 
July 9th. 

Almost simultaneously with these two great Federal 
triumphs, the Confederate General Holmes attacked 
Prentiss at Helena, Arkansas, with eight thousand men 
and was defeated by a force hardly more than half as 
numerous. This was the final effort to relieve Vicks- 
burg and was made too late to have been effective un- 
der any circumstances. There were thirty-one thousand 
six hundred prisoners surrendered at Vicksburg and 
six thousand at Port Hudson. When Grant entered 
the city, it was a community of cave-dwellers. Living 
quarters had been dug in the sides of the clay cliffs 
that afforded secure protection from shells that were 
constantly thrown into the town from Porter's boats 
upon the river. " The Father of Waters " was now in 
Federal hands from source to mouth. Fiercely as the 
conflict raged in the East, dwellers along the banks of 
the Mississippi knew only peace. 

History's verdict will probably fix Grant's master 
stroke, as a military tactician, at Vicksburg rather than 
at Richmond or Appomattox. There is not a career 
in the annals of time exactly like his. A discredited 
tanner's clerk, who had set out in his fortieth year to 
fight such battles as the world never had known, ended 
by having command of half a million men and twice 
becoming President of the United States. It is more 
marvellous than the tale of Joan of Arc! 



CHAPTER XVI 

**The Mississippi Bubble" 

THE only one to give the " Father of Waters " a 
bad name was a Scotchman named John Law. 
His schemes of " frenzied finance " had no more 
to do with the Mississippi than with the Ganges. The 
Province of Louisiana never profited to the value of a 
livre from all the notes issued in the name of " The Com- 
pany of the Indies." Law's tremendous " gamble," is 
known in history as " The Mississippi Bubble," and, as 
such, it claims space in this volume. 

It is the only Scotch twist ever given to the mighty 
river. 

From the view-point of the bankers of to-day, John 
Law was misunderstood. In a broker's opinion. Law's 
partner in the "flotation," the Due d'Orleans, "laid 
down on him " and caused the failure of an elaborate 
financial problem. Had Law hved in the twentieth 
century, his methods would have been described as su- 
perb finance. He was a promoter, and much is per- 
mitted to that branch of the profession in extracting 
money from the public. Modern "promoting" con- 
sists in unloading upon people who have money se- 
curities of real or apocryphal values. The problem is 
to sell certificates representing shares in " soulless " 
corporations and to get money for them. A writer in 
the Bankers' Magazine frankly says: 

•277 



278 The Mississippi 

Like many reformers who succeed in unchaining pent-up 
social and financial forces, Law was unable to keep these 
forces under command, and for the chaos that resulted he is 
held responsible, although no one was more surprised than 
he that the spirit of peace and prosperity, which he sum- 
moned, changed so soon into a demon of discord and disaster. 

There we have the American view-point, exactly as 
the failure of the attempt to pool the Great Northern 
and the Northern Pacific railroads under the title of 
" The Northern Securities Company," in ISlay, 1901, 
would have been explained by the small group of New 
York bankers and promoters who attempted to carry 
the plan into effect. But the French of to-day, as of two 
hundred years ago, do not accept Law's ideas of finance. 
In less degree, history repeated itself in France when 
the Panama Canal " bubble " burst, at the close of the 
nineteenth century, and the good name of a more de- 
serving man than John Law, the Count de Lesseps, was 
branded with similar disgrace. The historic imposition 
of the Assignats of 1789 had its counterpart in Civil 
War finance of the United States, in 1861-65. 

John Law's preparation for a career that made him 
so conspicuous in the history of the eighteenth century 
was not that by which several of America's successful 
multi-millionaires equipped themselves for the acquire- 
ment and absorption of other people's money. He did 
not enter a broker's office and learn to hypothecate 
shares left with him as collateral, or to charge interest 
on loans that were not made, or to collect and retain 
interest upon stocks or bonds held as margins, and in 
that way eventually to become the heartless creature 
that the successful stock-broker must be. He did " get 
near " to banking methods in Amsterdam, later, as we 



"The Mississippi Bubble" 279 

shall see, but only after he had failed to carry out plans 
of his own. 

The father of John Law was a wealthy Edinburgh 
goldsmith. At twenty, young John left home, saw 
Europe, and returned home an accomplished " specu- 
lator." In Law's time, there was not a stock exchange, 
and the only means of " speculation " was what is now 
indecorously described as " gambling," or " bucking the 
tiger." Otherwise, Law's morals were excellent. He 
went to Holland to study the financial methods of that 
w^onderful people. The Dutch would " plunge " on 
anything from a tulip bulb to a new brand of schnapps. 
That rich, resolute Republic had inherited all the push 
of the Venetians, without their vices. Amsterdam was 
the commercial metropolis of Europe. Money could 
be had there for two or three per cent. Her celebrated 
and mysterious bank promised inexhaustible resources. 
Holland's financial system was an enigma. Law 
fathomed it before he was thirty years of age. He 
was a solver of riddles. 

When Law returned to Scotland again and found 
that business was stagnant, he suggested a remedy. 
He ascribed the commercial lethargy to " a deficiency 
of capital." What Law had not learned was the 
difference between " capital " and " currency." He 
thought them the same. Law's utterances at the time 
are historic: " The proprietor needs money to clear up 
his land; the manufacturer must have it to multiply 
his looms ; the merchant cries for it to extend his opera- 
tions." Law's meaning was that every business needs 
funds for first materials and manual labour. It was 
almost a gleam of our vaunted " protection," our 
Government and State land-grants to railroads. 



28o The Mississippi 

When Law became convinced that the prosperity 
of a country is gauged bj'^ the currency in circulation, 
he lay awake of nights planning the creation of the 
needed conditions. He offered the scheme to his own 
country in 1700, but the canny Scots promptly 
stamped it " Nae gude! " He exhausted all arguments 
that the American " Greenbackers " employed at the 
end of the nineteenth century. Then he crossed the 
channel and was unsuccessful at Paris, although he had 
the favour of the Due d'Orleans. Thence, he went to 
Italy. He was told at Turin to get out of the country 
and he took the advice. Next, we hear of him in Ger- 
many; but no better success attended him. On the 
green cloth, however, he won enormous sums. In 
Germany, he gathered in fully two million livres. With 
this capital. Law hurried to Paris, — much as a young 
American takes his fortune, won in a wild-cat mine, to 
New York, buys a seat on the Stock Exchange, and 
plays broker and banker. 

Louis XIV. had just died, after bankrupting the 
treasury; but Law knew there were millions of livres 
in the stockings, tea-caddies, and strong boxes of the 
bourgeoisie throughout the beautiful land of France. 
He saw an opportunity to try his experiment, — much 
as Dr. Ox, when he reached the sleepy city of Quiquen- 
done in the Low Countries, — and he sought his former 
patron, the Due d'Orleans, who had become regent. 
The way for his historic enterprise was made easy. 

The specie circulation in France at the beginning 
of 1716 was supposed to be eight hundred million livres, 
or, — quoting the French livre as of equal value to the 
English shilling,— roughly, $200,000,000. This was 
thought to be an intolerable burden, although it was 



"The Mississippi Bubble" 281 

only one fifth that imposed upon the people of the 
United States by the Civil War. Previous fluctua- 
tions in weight of the livre were seized upon by Law 
to issue demand notes, payable in livres containing a 
specified quantity of " silver of established fineness." 
Just what was to be " established " was not stated. 
This act removed the stigma from the livre, when the 
coin was supplanted by Law's paper money. He con- 
trived, by that means, to float fifty-nine million livres 
(say $15,000,000), of his paper! A mere bagatelle, as 
shown by the ease with which shares of the United 
Ship-building Company, having a capital of $100,000,- 
000, were put out in this country. 

On January 1, 1719, the regent, in the name of 
France, took possession of Law's bank, due to some 
dispute over *' graft " coming to him. His first act 
was to discredit Law by omitting from the faces of the 
notes the words, " of the same rate and fineness." The 
printing-presses then got busy and, in eleven months' 
time, issued ten hundred and ten million livres of paper 
money. Let us call this $252,000,000. 

Here is where the name of the Mississippi becomes 
associated with Law. While the bank was in his hands, 
he and his partners had been granted the exclusive privi- 
lege of trading to the French possessions on the con- 
tinent of America. This single fact has attached to 
Law's bold financiering in France the name of " The 
Mississippi Bubble." The charter also included the 
West Indies and " all countries to the east of the Cape of 
Good Hope." Law had incorporated under the title 
of " The Company of the Indies." This corporation 
soon absorbed remarkable powers. It " took over " 
the mint, to coin the livres any weight its directors 



282 The Mississippi 

chose; it engaged to lend to the Government sixteen 
hundred milhon hvres ($400,000,000) , at three per cent., 
and to do this the bank was restored to Law on Feb- 
ruary 22, 1720. Five days later, the infamous arret was 
issued which prohibited any corporation or individual 
from possessing any bullion, or more than five hundred 
livres in specie. The notes of the Company of the 
Indies were made the only legal tender. This com- 
pelled all hoarders of money to deposit it in the bank 
and to receive notes therefor. The value of a French 
mark of silver had been forty livres; but, on INIarch 
5th, an arret appeared fixing the value of the mark of 
silver at eighty livres. This was semi-repudiation; it 
enabled Law to settle at one half, hut that was not 
where the high finance came in. It was a lure to draw 
into the company all the silver still outstanding. This 
is made clear by the next step. The announcement 
was issued that after April 1st, the value of the mark 
of silver would only be seventy livres and after May 
1st, only sixty-five livres. That was a " hurry up " 
order of the rankest kind. The idea was worthy of Wall 
Street. Naturally, unthinking men desired to get as 
much paper for their coin as possible, and tlie rush to 
the bargain counter was unabated. In three weeks, 
in anticipation of the impending reduction in value of 
the mark. Law was given forty-four million livres of 
coin for his worthless paper. Thus, and through other 
channels, this frenzied financier issued, between March 
1st and May 2d, notes equal to 1,626,672,910 livres. 
All told, notes were out for 2,235,085,590 livres, or 
double the average amount of money in France. This 
proves that people in other parts of Europe, looking 
for " good things," got " stung." 



*' The Mississippi Bubble " 283 

" In less than three weeks after the last issue of 
notes," says the unknown banker, writing in the 
Bankers' Magazine, " the bank was murdered by the 
Government: without that interference, the bank was 
due to have lived exactly three months longer." The 
misfortune that deprived Law of three additional 
months, in which to rob the people of Europe, appears 
to grieve the banker-author deeply. He had practi- 
cally gathered in every livre of loose change in the 
kingdom ; a fairly reasonable man would think the hour 
to stop had struck. 

The collapse in value of the paper money was 
greater than that which came to the bills of the South- 
ern Confederacy. 

In the opinion of the editor of the Bankers' 
Magazine^ 

The fatal errors of Law's " system " were : First, He held 
that paper money, if it rested upon any basis of solid wealth 
besides coin, was just as sound and as firmly established as 
if represented by specie in the vaults of the issuer. Second, 
He believed that an act of Government could give the potency 
and value of money to paper which had not that support 
of coin. 

Similar theories have been argued in both Houses 
of the Congress of the United States during the last 
generation. Law's opportunity was offered by the re- 
vulsion of sentiment in France following the death of 
Louis XIV. During the King's life, he had been the 
object of popular adulation; but hardly was he laid in 
the grave before his statues were stoned and his name 

1 Banker's Magazine, 1874. 



284 The Mississippi 

was execrated.^ Law had his play, however. He made 

money " plenty." 

1 Charles Mackay's History of the Mississippi Scheme is worth 
reading; Emerson Hough's novel is highly entertaining. 




o 
1—1 

o 



C3 



a 
o 



<1 
02 



CHAPTER XVII 

Great Cities of the Valley 

FIVE great cities have developed along the Mis- 
sissippi Valley. The one farthest north, Min- 
neapolis, is at the head of navigation and within 
six hundred miles of the river's source. The one 
farthest south, New Orleans, is one hundred and twenty 
miles from the river's mouth. Community of interests 
makes of Saint Paul and Minneapolis one city. Saint 
Louis owes its location to the nearby outlet of the Mis- 
souri. Memphis occupies a point almost on an air line 
between the industrial and commercial centres of the 
North-east and the growing South-west. 

Rivers are the foster-mothers of communities, small 
or large. In most cases, streams upon which large 
cities stand have been made to serve purposes of foreign 
or domestic commerce. When too shallow for ships 
that go down to the sea, they have been canalised and 
made to furnish internal transportation. Moscow and 
Madrid are two exceptional examples of cities indepen- 
dent of usable rivers. Madrid was built by Philip II. 
upon what he declared to be " an impossible site." It 
stands upon the top of a truncated cone, having a de- 
sert of sage-bush upon three quarters of its circum- 
ference. Cairo, " the City of Saladin," owes much to 
the wonderful river that has converted a long canon, 
called the Nile Valley, and its own delta into the most 

fertile land upon this earth. Paris, as Violet le Due 

285 



286 The Mississippi 

demonstrates, never would have risen to greatness ex- 
cept for an island in the Seine that suggested a site 
for defence in a period when only the strongest and 
most wary survived. Chicago is upon the Great Lakes, 
having river outlet through the majestic St. Lawrence. 
St. Petersburg has the Neva, London the Thames, 
Vienna the Danube, and New York the Hudson and a 
salt water strait. Berlin, for example, could do ^^ath- 
out the Spree; but every city is made more self-reliant 
and prosperous by association with a river, although 
boats from across the seas may not come to its wharves. 
The Mississippi is navigable for large freight- 
carrying steamboats from the Gulf of Mexico to Min- 
neapolis, a distance of two thousand one hundred and 
seventy-nine miles. With the possible exception of 
Memphis, the cities and villages along its banks owe 
what they are to the river. Some communities that 
promised to achieve greatness have failed of their ap- 
parent destinies ; but all are prosperous and their people 
are intelligent and happy. 

SAINT PAUL-MINNEAPOLIS 

The " Twin City " of Minnesota must one day be- 
come united in name and municipal government. The 
same fantastic, deterrent rivalry exists that deferred 
for fifty j'cars a consolidation of Brooklyn and Man- 
hattan, although the two cities were only separated by 
a narrow strait connecting Long Island Sound with 
New York Bay. The union of the two Minnesota 
cities would give to that State one community of half 
a million people. 

Louis Hennepin probably was the first white man 



Great Cities of the Valley 287 

to see the great fall in the Mississippi, which he named 
Anthony after his patron saint: therefore, he may be 
credited with discovery of the sites of Saint Paul and 
Minneapolis. That was in 1680, sixty years after the 
Pilgrims had landed at Plymouth Rock. For nearly 
a century, no record exists of any verification of Hen- 
nepin's statement. Captain Jonathan Carver, of Con- 
necticut, ascended the Mississippi, as far as the fall, in 
November, 1776. The island now below the cascade 
was then upon its crest. Lieutenant Pike, before set- 
ting out upon his historic journey up the river, held 
a council with the Indians above the fall. Not long 
after (1819), Colonel Leavenworth, with ninety-eight 
soldiers, established a stockade upon the heights over- 
looking the junction of the Minnesota with the Mis- 
sissippi, calling it Fort St. Anthony; but, in 1824, at 
General Winfield Scott's suggestion, the name was 
changed to Snelling, as a worthy tribute to the gallant 
commander of the post. The first Mississippi steam- 
boat, the Virginia, ascended to Fort Snelling on May 
10, 1823. Steamboat traffic to the head of navigation 
reached its highest point in 1857, when ninety-nine boats 
plied upon the Upper Mississippi, the annual number 
of their trips to Saint Paul exceeding nine hundred and 

fifty. 

/A town had grown at the east side of the fall, 
taking name therefrom. On the admission of Min- 
nesota as a State, and later, this town was a candidate 
for the capital site. On the other side of the river a 
highly important incident occurred. A Swiss watch- 
maker, named Perry, tried to establish a home upon 
the military reservation surrounding Fort Snelling. 
He was driven away and became the first actual settler 



288 The Mississippi 

at the site of Saint Paul. In 1841, Father Lucien 
Galtier built a rude chapel of logs upon the river bluff, 
near what was then the steamboat landing, and named 
it " The Chapel of Saint Paul." This humble church 
gave name to the present capital of the State. The 
city's history really begins in 1849, in which year 
JNIinnesota was organised as a territory and Alex- 
ander Ramsey was appointed its Governor. Statehood 
followed in 1858. 

JNIeanwhile, another town had begun to form upon 
the west bank, at the Fall of St. AnthonJ^ In 1849, 
the War Department gave to one Robert Smith, a 
member of the House of Representatives at Washing- 
ton, a claim to one hundred and sixty acres of land 
upon the west bank and guaranteed to him the right 
to purchase the water-power upon that side of the river. 
It was not the first example of special favours to Con- 
gressmen, but memory thereof still lingers in Minnesota. 
The new town was called Minneapolis, although legal 
titles to land could not be had until 1855. It was in- 
corporated as a citj^ in 1867. The city of St. Anthony 
was consolidated with Minneapolis in 1872, under the 
name of the latter, — the two boroughs being dis- 
tinguished as East and West. The State University 
was located in Minneapolis, East, bringing much pres- 
tige to the combined city. (" Rah, rah, rah! Ski-U-mah 
— hoorah! hoorah! Varsity! Varsity! Minne-so-ta! ") 
IMinneapolis was by that time the manufacturing centre 
of the young State. The power of the fall at that point 
was calculated at thirty thousand horses, and mammoth 
saw and grist mills rapidly took form to utilise it. The 
splendid timber of the Upper Mississippi was " logged " 
to INIinneapolis, there to be converted into lumber. 













o 
O 



Great Cities of the Valley 289 

Grinding of flour grew to such mammoth proportions 
that the output of the Minneapolis mills at present is 
set down at eighty thousand barrels per day. The 
United States Government in recent years has done 
much to maintain the evenness of the water supply at 
St. Anthony. A system of reservoirs has been built 
for impounding the floods of the Upper Mississippi. 
These barrages constitute a unique feature of the 
economies of the stream. Like those on the Nile, their 
purpose is to secure a more even water volume, and they 
minimise the dangers of overflow by restraining the 
spring floods. A new dam at Grand Rapids is a small 
replica of that at Assuan, with its gates. In some in- 
stances, the value of the dams is yet to be demonstrated. 
They certainly have proved to be aids to navigation 
by small craft. Water storage occurs at the following 
points: The Winnebagoshish reservoir, with seventy- 
five square miles of surface; Leech Lake reservoir, one 
hundred and sixty-five square miles of surface; Pine 
River reservoir; Pokegama Lake reservoir, ten square 
miles, and Sandy Lake resen'^oir, area nine square miles. 

Two features of special pride to the people of Min- 
neapolis are Minnehaha Fall and Lake Minnetonka. 
The little stream that flows over the rocky ledge and 
creates the pretty waterfall often dries up in hot 
weather. In the words of Metellus Thomson, " It is 
like the Manzanares, at Madrid, it goes out of town in 
midsummer." The lake, however, is a charming and 
popular warm-weather retreat for the people of the 
Twin City. 

Saint Paul always has been the capital of the Terri- 
tory and State and is its political centre. It was in- 
corporated as a city on March 4, 1854, a trifle more 



290 The Mississippi 

than four years before Minnesota became a State of the 
Union. Saint Paul has become the railroad centre of 
the North-west. Seven different lines of rails connect 
it with Chicago. Two trunk lines to the Pacific coast 
start there. A magnificent State Capitol has recently- 
been finished, at a cost of $5,000,000, and a Roman 
Catholic cathedral that will excel in beauty any re- 
ligious structure west of St. Patrick's cathedral in New 
York. The Municipal Auditorium will seat ten thou- 
sand people. An island in the river has been converted 
into a public park and a comprehensive system of free 
public baths established. 

SAINT LOUIS 

The proud claim of the people of " The Mound 
City " is that Saint Louis " stands at the heart of the 
Continent." Its site is very near the centre of the JNIis- 
sissippi Valley, the basin of North America. It is 
about midway between Saint Paul and New Orleans; 
Pittsburg and Denver. Topographicall}^ it covers a 
series of ridges between the Mississippi, the Missouri, 
and the Meramec. Its general altitude is about two 
hundred feet above the rivers, rising gradually to that 
height. It extends about twenty miles along the west 
bank of the Mississippi. It is one thousand three 
hundred and seventy miles from the Gulf of Mexico; 
one hundred river steamers are often seen at one time 
upon its levee. 

fSaint Louis dates from the arrival of Pierre Le- 
clade Liguest, a New Orleans merchant who had ob- 
tained an exclusive concession to trade in furs on the 
upper Mississippi and JNIissouri rivers, and took up his 




>5 



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Great Cities of the Valley 291 

claim on February 15, 1764. Auguste Chouteau, a 
companion, cleared the first ground and built the first 
house. Liguest had left New Orleans, with a party 
of French voyageurs, in August of 1763, for the avowed 
purpose of founding a city on the Mississippi near the 
mouth of the Missouri. Shortly after his arrival in 
the north, the cession to Great Britain of the Illinois 
country occurred and many French, who disliked the 
British, moved to Liguest's settlement on the west bank 
of the river, already named in honour of the patron 
saint of the King of France. When the territory of 
Louisiana was retroceded to Spain, the French Gov- 
ernor at Saint Louis died of a broken heart. 

St. Ange de Bellerive became Governor- General in 
1765. The first grants of land were made by Liguest, 
— who often wrote his name Leclade in deeds, — to 
Bellerive on August 11, 1766. The Spaniards never 
exercised any control over the settlement; but, in 1767, 
word was received that Spain intended to garrison the 
site. This announcement created alarm and threats of 
resistance. The fort was not built and the troops never 
arrived. Bellerive was a warm friend of Pontiac, the 
Ottawa chief, and after the Spaniards left, the famous 
Indian visited him. At that time, with the single ex- 
ception of Red Jacket, Pontiac was the greatest of all 
living American Indians. His dream was to drive the 
English into the Atlantic. To this day, French de- 
scendants at Saint Louis believe that Pontiac was 
poisoned by the British. 

Don Alexander O'Reilly came from Spain to New 
Orleans to assume command of the Louisiana territory. 
He had three thousand troops and his reception by the 
French population was very cold. He sent a deputy. 



292 The Mississippi 

Piernas, to Saint Louis in 1770. This man was suc- 
cessful in ingratiating himself with the people. When 
an Osage chief announced the intention of killing Pier- 
nas, he was himself slain by a Shawnee. True to the 
mercurial French temperament, the Osage was buried 
with much honour upon the eminence that afterward 
was to give to Saint Louis the title of " The Mound 
City." 

(The Governor who succeeded Piernas was popular, 
but he was replaced by Don Fernando de Leyba in 
1778. The American Revolution was then in progress. 
Both French and Spanish hated the English and sym- 
pathised with the Colonists. An intrenchment was 
thrown around the village; but, in 1780, a party of 
Canadian-Frenchmen, aided by one thousand up-river 
Indians, attacked the town, killed forty of its citizens, 
and took as many more prisoners. Francis Crozat, the 
next commander, so thoroughly fortified the place that 
it never again was attacked. The first recorded " June 
rise " of the Mississippi occurred in 1785 and threw the 
citizens of the town into consternation. Saint Louis 
w^as flooded to the present line of Main Street. The 
immediate effect of the overflow was to drive settlers 
from the lowlands to the city upon the hills; but, in 
1790, it did not possess a post-office, ferry, or manufac- 
tory of any sort. The Saint Louis merchant of that 
time kept his stock in a chest holding a few tools, rifles, 
shot, powder, and red paint. A ferry was established 
in 1797, that is still in operation. 

The history of Saint Louis really begins with the 
Louisiana Purchase (1803) that joined the destiny of 
that vast tract of territory with the United States. 
Lewis and Clark built their flat-boats and outfitted 







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Great Cities of the Valley 293 

their epoch-making expedition up the Missouri and 
down the Columbia River at this thriving village, then 
having a population of six thousand: but their report 
makes scant mention of the natural advantages of the 
site. Lieutenant Pike began his memorable trip up 
the Mississippi from the budding city. The first news- 
paper in the West, The Republic, was founded there in 
1804. 

Jean N. Nicollet, whose footsteps we have followed 
in the Itasca wilderness, was the first eulogist of Saint 
Louis. " Future generations will inquire of us all that 
concerns the origin of this Queen City of the majestic 
Mississippi," he wrote in 1838. " Saint Louis was born 
French," he said in 1842, " but her cradle was hung in 
the forest, her infancy stunted by unavoidable priva- 
tions, and her early maturity retarded by the terror of 
the Indian cry. Abandoned by her Castilian guard- 
ians, she was reclaimed by her first parent only to be 
once more repudiated." 

The great Territory of Missouri was organised in 
1813 and in the same year the first brick house was 
built in the young city, then boasting sixteen thousand 
people. Saint Louis was so remote from the Atlantic 
seaboard that her citizens hardly knew of, the second 
war with Great Britain. The town had been incor- 
porated in 1809 and a city charter was secured in 1822. 
(General Lafayette was warmly welcomed in 1825. 
Cholera ravaged the city in 1849. The first railroad 
was opened in 1851. The Missouri Compromise gave 
a check to the city's growth; at the beginning of the 
Civil War, owing to the attitude of the Governor of 
Missouri, it became turbulent, like Baltimore, because 
many of its people believed Missouri to be in fact, as 



294 The Mississippi 

well as in name, a Southern State and obligated to 
secede from the Federal Union. 

Saint Louis was swept by a tornado on May 27, 
1896. The storm approached from the north-west, 
crossed the city from Tower Grove Park to East Saint 
Louis, on the Illinois bank of the Mississippi, destroy- 
mg $15,000,000 worth of property. 

The phenomenal growth of Saint Louis is indicated 
by an eight-fold increase in its assessed valuation in 
forty years. It occupies a unique position among all 
municipalities of the United States. It is a free city, 
absolutely independent of the county government. It 
has its own executive, judiciary, and legislature. In 
Tower Grove Park is a mulberry tree, reared from a 
slip brought from Shakespeare's grave at Stratford-on- 
Avon by the late Adelaide Neilson. Unlike New 
Orleans, the French characteristics of Saint Louis have 
almost disappeared, although the French language is 
spoken in many households. It is to-day the most 
German city in the American Republic, except 
Milwaukee. 

MEMPHIS 

Memphis occupies the only site on the Mississippi 
adapted for a town of large size between the mouth 
of the Ohio and Natchez. Prior to the treatj^ of II- 
defonso, the Spaniards built a fort there; but the his- 
tory of the city begins with a grant from the State 
of North Carolina to John Rice, by which, for ten 
pounds sterling per hundred acres, paid to the State, 
Rice acquired five thousand acres of land upon Chicasa 
Bluff. This elevated plateau had been the home of the 




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Great Cities of the Valley 295 

Chicasa branch of the great Muskhogean tribe. The 
grant was recorded on June 24, 1784. The irregular 
tract began one mile below the mouth of Wolf River 
and extended north many miles: a description of the 
plot is very complex. Upon this five thousand acres, 
a large part of Memphis stands. 

John Rice was owner of large tracts of land in mid- 
dle and eastern Tennessee, — a very energetic man. He 
removed from North Carolina to Nashville soon after 
entry of these lands, and was killed by Indians in 
1791.^ Judge Overton, in 1794, bought for $500 from 
Elisha Rice, brother and an heir of the deceased owner, 
the Chicasa Bluff tract. The Judge was timid regard- 
ing the title to the land and insisted that Elisha Rice's 
three brothers join in the transfer. Next day after 
purchase, Overton conveyed an undivided half interest 
in the land to General Andrew Jackson. The two men 
were bosom friends, and the purchase was doubtless on 
joint account. 

The North-west, except a settlement at Saint Louis, 
was unpeopled west of the Ohio. The Mississippi 
Valley was without population, except at Natchez and 
New Orleans. Jackson sold three quarters of his half 
interest, so that Chicasa Bluff was owned thus : Judge 
Overton, one half; Andrew Jackson, one eighth; Wil- 
liam Winchester, one eighth; and James Winchester, 
one quarter. The property remained in these hands 
until President Madison's administration, when Isaac 
Selby and Andrew Jackson were appointed a commis- 
sion to negotiate a treaty with the native tribes. By 
a covenant, signed October 19, 1818, the Chicagaws 
surrendered all claim to lands lying north of the 

1 Haywood's History of Tennessee. 



296 The Mississippi 

Tennessee boundary. Memphis was plotted in the fol- 
lowing year, while General Jackson was in Florida. 
Changes in the river front rendered a re-survey of the 
Rice tract difficult. Many years of litigation followed: 
but the Jackson treaty of 1818 extinguished all 
the Indian titles. There was a grant to one John 
Ramsey that conflicted, and although no considera- 
tion was mentioned, its genuineness never was ques- 
tioned. 

! Memphis was named after the ancient city on the 
Nile, which stood twenty miles south of the present 
capital of Egypt, Cairo. The new Memphis was laid 
off to the cardinal points, parallel with the Mississippi, 
and upon the bluff, twenty-five to thirty feet above the 
highest flood. A cluster of islands in the river north 
of the city was known as " Paddy's Hen and Chickens " ; 
three miles below is President's Island, containing sev- 
eral thousand acres of land, mostly fertile.^ The first 
mayor of Memphis, M. B. Winchester, took office in 
March, 1827. 

During the Civil War, Memphis became a point of 
strategic importance in General Grant's campaign 
which ended with the siege and capture of Vicksburg. 
Major-General Washburn put the city under martial 
law on July 2, 1864; but the rights of private property 
were fully respected and the order was revoked on July 
2, 1865. 

Among heroes of the city. Colonel David Crockett 
is the immortal figure. He crossed the Mississippi 
from Memphis for the last time on his way to Texas 
and to his glorious death at the Alamo, in San Antonio. 
He had spent considerable time in Memphis in 1823 and 

1 History of Memphis, by James D. Davis, p. 29. 




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Great Cities of the Valley 297 

the local history literally teems with stories of Crockett. 
Thomas H. Benton's name is also associated with the 
early days of the city. An anecdote of Abraham Lincoln 
is recorded by Davis : "In the summer of 1831, a steam- 
boat bound up the river touched at Foy's Point, opposite 
INIemphis. A young man landed and asked one Wap- 
panocha Furgason for work, saying he had been robbed 
on the boat. He was put to chopping wood and worked 
until he had earned money enough to proceed to his 
home in Illinois." 

The revival season of Lorenzo Dow, in 1826, is 
mentioned in all histories of Memphis. The parson is 
described by the historian thus : " He was below me- 
dium height, awkward, with swaggering walk and 
gesture; but he possessed much natural drollery 
by which he could rouse his hearers from tears to 
laughter." 

The recent growth of Memphis has been pheno- 
menal. 

NEVr ORLEANS 

After Quebec and Mont-Real, New Orleans became 
the "dream town" of France in the New World. It rose 
upon the wreck of John Law's preposterous Mississippi 
scheme which almost bankrupted the people of France 
but served to draw universal attention to the Province 
of Louisiana, that up to that time had received little 
popular thought. The first act of Bienville's second 
administration as Governor of Louisiana was to select 
a site for the capital of the colony. He chose the spot 
where now stands the City of New Orleans. There he 
erected a stockade. Bienville not only showed his 



298 The Mississippi 

sagacity but his courage, because he dared to ignore 
the preferences of the home government for Manchac, 
where communication was open with the Gulf through 
the Bayou Manchac and the Amite River. The land 
now occupied by the " Crescent City " was marshy and 
covered with a sci*ubby growth of semi-tropical verdure. 
Bienville foresaw that ships of deeper draught than 
those then in use would be built and that the river 
must be the city's outlet to the sea. Remember his Cana- 
dian birth and his close acquaintance with the gigantic 
St. Lawrence, — the one river of this continent great 
from beginning to end. 

Then followed the capture of Pensacola, its re- 
capture bj'- the Spanish, through bad faith of the Span- 
ish commander at Havana, to which port the two French 
corvettes carried their prisoners only to be seized, loaded 
with Spanish troops, and sent back for the reversal of 
a short-lived victory. But, additional aid coming to 
Bienville at Mobile, whither he had gone, he returned 
to Pensacola and turned defeat into complete victory. 
Deserters from the French to the Spanish were sum- 
marily punished with death. Bienville began to en- 
counter renewed opposition to the transfer of the seat 
of government to the site of the capital of his choice. 
An unexampled overflow of the Mississippi that year 
(1719) was urged, with much force, against the lo- 
cation. Hubert, a special messenger from the King 
of France, insisted upon Natchez; but his pleas were 
inspired by self-interest, because he was a large land- 
owner there. Bienville promptly exposed this propen- 
sity to " graft " and stood firmly by his choice. Three 
agents of the Company of the Indies appear to have 
had more power than Bienville or the royal commis- 




L'Uuion Francaise, New Orleans. 




Moss-eovered Oak, Audubon I'ark, New Orleans. 



Great Cities of the Valley 299 

sioner, for they fixed the capital at New Blloxi, on the 
bay of that name. Extortionate taxation was then 
imposed upon the colonists of Louisiana by the com- 
pany's agents. Not until 1722 was the site chosen by 
Jean Baptiste Lemoyne de Bienville officially pro- 
claimed as the capital of the vast province. The exiles 
from Acadia settled there in 1765. The people of the 
town rose to arms in 1768, against the cession of Louisi- 
ana to Spain, but were compelled to submit under 
the menace of a large Spanish force in 1769. Two fires 
devastated the city, the first in 1788 and the second in 
1894. The destiny of New Orleans followed that of 
the Louisiana Province, which was returned by Spain 
to France in 1800 and by France ceded to the 
United States. Aaron Burr's conspiracy was defeated 
in 1807 and the battle of New Orleans occurred in 
1815. 

An interesting incident in early colonial days was 
the arrival of " the Casket Girls," in the spring of 
1728. Unlike predecessors, they had not been taken 
from correctional institutions but were daughters of 
respectable, although poor, bourgeoise parents. When 
they sailed from France, the India Company gave to 
each girl a casket containing some useful articles of 
dress, and this fact gave to them the designation of 
" les filles a la cassette/' The Ursuline Sisters cared 
for them until they were married: owing to their good 
character, it subsequently became a matter of distinc- 
tion to claim descent from " the Casket Girls," rather 
than from the earlier arrivals. 

To this day, the nomenclature of the streets tells 
the story of French and Spanish domination. Names 
chosen by Le Blond de la Tour, when he plotted the 



300 The Mississippi 

city, remain, especially such evidences of French-Creole 
gallantry as the pretty feminine names of Suzette, An- 
gelic, Annette, and Celeste. Several hundred saints 
thus honoured proves the religious character of the 
early citizens. Although the Creoles were overawed 
by the Spaniards, during the French Revolution they 
imitated the classic tendencies of their " dear Paris," 
and named many streets in honour of Greek and Roman 
heroes or statesmen. The three graces, twelve gods 
persona grata on Olympus, and the nine muses were 
thus honoured. The water-works had place in the 
streets of the Naiades and Dryades. 

, The Creoles regard the language they speak as " a 
beautiful French." They are so much a part of New 
Orleans that even their caressing, delicious dialect is 
worth journeying thither to hear. One can begin at 
253 Rue Royale, in " a region of architectural decrepi- 
tude," — where is the snug cottage of " Madame DeJ- 
phine," with its bristling, sierra-like ridgepole of tiles, 
— and, by the route of the French market, travel 
through the dreamland of the Creole quarter, finding 
wonderment everywhere. A typical corner exists at 
Toulouse Street. A few steps' divergence along that 
quiet lane is the French Opera and under its shadow 
is the rendezvous of artists, " Au Point d'Orgue," 
where painters have congregated for more than a hun- 
dred years to take cognac and absinthe. Once in a 
generation, a new door is hung, but nobody remembers 
when a key was turned in a lock. It is the abode of 
yesterday and to-morrow. Its shabbiness endears it to 
Bohemia, — and all the French quarter, like the Quartier 
Latin of Paris, is Bohemian. At St. Anne and Royale 
is the " Cafe des Exiles," where every chord of a happy- 




A Typical Corner, 




Cafe ties Artists. 



Great Cities of the Valley 301 

hearted life finds its responsive note. The Creole girl 
is always attractive, rarely beautiful, and, as a matron, 
she grows old with the same gracefulness that marks 
eveiy step in her life. Mr. Cable is the troubadour 
of the Creole; one may not intrude upon a field so 
pre-empted.^ 

There is a street play and pageant in New Orleans 
every February. " Mardi Gras " is conducted by car- 
nival secret societies. It is a French importation, 
brought over during the reign of Louis Philippe. Long 
preparation and lavish expenditure of money charac- 
terise these parades and the ball that closes the 
festivities. 

Voudouism is still practised among the negroes dwell- 
ing upon the shores of Lake Pontchartrain. The an- 
nual service of worship of the Evil One occurs on St. 
John's eve. 

The Cathedral of St. Louis, on Chai'tres Street, 
the fourth church upon the site, embodies the history of 
Catholicism in Louisiana. The Capuchins originally 
gained control of the religious element in the province; 
but in 1721, Father Charlevoix, a Jesuit missionary, 
came from Canada, by the familiar Illinois and Mis- 
sissippi rivers route. He found the Capuchins so 
thoroughly intrenched that he threw mud at their service. 
Some of his reports sent back to France contain 
venemous attacks upon the morality of the Capuchin 
priesthood. Similar bitterness between various 

1 The writer of this volume is under obligations to Professor 
Armour Caldwell for original photographs of the French quarter of 
New Orleans. Mr. Louis Jonte Header, formerly of New Orleans, 
kindly placed his library at the writer's disposal. If one wants to 
understand the New Orleans of the eighteenth century he must study 
Mr. Cable. 



302 The Mississippi 

branches of the Christian faith is seen in Jerusalem 
to-day. Rehgiously, the Louisiana territory was ul- 
timately divided into three districts. The Capuchins 
retained jurisdiction from the mouth of the Mississippi 
to that of the lUinois. The barefoot Carmelites were 
given stewardship over Mobile, Biloxi, and Alebamos. 
The Jesuits had the country watered by the lUionis 
and Wabash, practically what is to-day Indiana and 
Illinois. Governor Bienville was very intolerant; no 
religion except that of the Roman Church was permitted. 
All Jews were expelled. The arrival of the Ursuline 
nuns in 1727 is an important episode in the history of 
the city. They occupied a convent on Conde (now 
Chartres) Street from 1730 until 1824, when they re- 
moved to spacious quarters on the river's bank, south 
of the city. During the intervening century, they toiled 
namelessly and without earthly reward in the hospitals 
and among the poor. War between the Capuchins and 
Jesuits was most violent in 1755; but the former won 
and the latter were expelled. All Jesuit property was 
seized and sold at auction for $180,000, an enormous sum 
in those times. 

When Spain resumed authoritj^ over the province, 
six Capuchin friars arrived from Spain in 1789, chief 
of whom was Father Sedella, remembered best as 
" Father Antoine." He was fifty years curate ; but the 
actual founder of the cathedral appeared in the person 
of Andreas Almonaster-y-Roxas, who, in 1792, under- 
took to build a superb edifice in place of one destroyed 
by fire. At the time the United States took control of 
Louisiana (1803), there was not in the entire colony a 
single Protestant church or Jewish synagogue. The 
religious heroes of New Orleans are Father Dagobert, 




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Great Cities of the Valley 303 

Superior of the Capuchins in Louisiana, a typical 
Amador of Turpenay, and Padre Antonio, mentioned 
above under his French name. The latter came from 
Madrid as Commissioner of the Holy Inquisition; but 
the then Governor of Louisiana, Don Eslevan Miro, 
promptly told the monk that heretics were not to be 
arrested, tried, or burned while he held the post. The 
zealous priest was forcibly shipped to Cadiz; but 
he returned as a humble servant of the Faith to 
become universally beloved. 

Jean Lafitte, smuggler, pirate, and hero, the an- 
tithesis of all that was good or noble, belongs to any 
sketch of New Orleans, however brief. He has been 
mentioned in our account of the final grapple with Great 
Britain upon the Plain of Chalmette. His loyalty pre- 
ceding that important event, at a time when such 
fidelity was ungratefully received, and the splendid 
heroism of Lafitte and his Baratarians in that decisive 
battle go far to atone for his lawless acts. 

In taking farewell of the grand river at New 
Orleans, one comprehends for the first time the enor- 
mous assemblage of forces concentrated in its majestic 
movement toward the Gulf. It has received its last 
affluent. The Mississippi, as we see it, is the product 
of the drainage of one third of the territory of the 
United States (exclusive of Alaska and the colonies), 
divided into the following basins, with their respective 
areas in square miles: The Missouri River, 518,000; 
the Upper Mississippi, 169,000; the Ohio, 214,000; the 
Arkansas and White, 189,000; the St. Francis, 10,500; 
the Red, 97,000; the Yazoo, 13,850; and thirty small 
tributaries, 28,688. This aggregates a drainage area 
of 1,240,038 square miles. 



304 The Mississippi 



TO THE RIVER 

" Chiicagna " and " Mechesepe " — these are names for Missis- 
sippi, 

Dead are now the scalping warriors! But the music of the 

river, 
And the sweet, syllabic rhythm of its name, shall live for 

ever. 

M. V. Moore, Harper's Magazine, 1883. 



Men may come and men may go, 
But I go on for ever. 

Tennyson, The Brook. 




The Tomb of Domiuique You, the IMiate Hero of Chalmette. 



n 




South I»a.ss, Kear Kaiige Lighthouse. 



INDEX 



Admiral's Map, the, 3-5, 63 

Alexander VI., Pope, and his Bull 
of 1493, 17 

Allen, Lieut., U. S. A., his bitter- 
ness toward Beltrami, 117 

Allouez, Father, brings back a 
name for the great river, 43 

A-ze-wa-wa-say-ta-gen portage 
between Red River of the North 
and Mississippi, 142, 155 

B 

Beaulieu, Henry, famous guide 
and woodsman, 133, 143 

Beltrami, Giacomo C, his trip 
down Turtle River to Cass 
Lake and thence to Saint Louis, 
102-105 

Injustice done to, 116 

Boutwell, Rev. W. T., guest of 
Schoolcraft, at Itasca, 106 

states purpose of expedition 

of 1832, 107 

suggests " ver-i-tas ca-put," 



111 
Brower, J. V., estimate of Nicol- 
let, 126 

estimate of Pike, 100 

explorations and surveys, 

110, 127, 202-207 



Capuchins, troubles between Jes- 
uits and, in New Orleans, 302 



Cartier, Jacques, voyage of, 18-20 
Carver, Jonathan, at the Missis- 
sippi, 81, 287 
" Casket Girls," the, of Louisi- 
ana, 299 
Cass, General Lewis, trip to up- 
per Mississippi, 99-102 
Cass Lake, description of, 161 
Chambers Creek, described by H. 

Clarke, C.E., 152 
Chicago Drainage Canal, 224 
Chouteau, Auguste, builder of 

first house in Saint Louis, 291 
Clarke, Hopewell, C.E., estimate 
of Nicollet, (note) 127; 128- 
130 

his survey of Itasca region, 

128-130, 152 
Columbus, Christopher, 3, 4, 5, 6 
Crockett, Colonel David, a hero of 
Memphis, 296 

D 

Delta of the Mississippi River, 
208 

E 

Eagle's Nest Savannah, descrip- 
tion of, 164 

Eastman, Mary H., her fanciful 
account of " Itasca," 117 

Elk Lake, beyond Itasca, 148 

how named, (note) 150 



Fort Snelling, as it is to-day, 175 



305 



3o6 



Inde 



X 



Freytas, Father Nicholas, chron- 
icle of, 46 

Frontenac, a pretty village on 
Lake Pepin, 178 



Galtier, Father Lucien, gave name 
to city of Saint Paul, 288 

Gambling on Mississippi steam- 
boats, 191-195 

Garay, Francisco de, equips Pi- 
neda, 7-8 

sends Narvaez, 9 

Grand Rapids, the barrage at, 289 

Groseilliers and Radisson, two 
voyages of, 21-42 

H 

Harrower, Henry D., his valuable 
investigations at Mississippi 
sources, (note) 127 

Hennepin, Father Louis, discov- 
ers and names St. Anthony's 
Fall, 66 

Houghton, Dr. Douglas, his ac- 
count of Schoolcraft expedition, 
114-116 



Iberville, Pierre Le Moyne d', gov- 
ernor of Louisiana, 74-76 

Inland Waterways Commission 
and its purposes, 233 

Inquisition, attempt to introduce 
the, in Louisiana, 303 

Itasca Lake, description of, 146 

• how named, 111 

■ length of, 146 

Itasca State Park, description of, 
2(|2 



Jefferson buys Louisiana, 90 
Jesuits, trouble between Capu- 
chins and, in New Orleans, 302 



Joliet, Louis, his first expedition, 

45 
his second expedition, 50 

L 

Lafayette, Marquis de, his visit 
to Saint Louis, 293 

Lafitte, Jean, smuggler hero of 
battle of New Orleans, 245- 
252, 303 

Lake Pepin, description of, 176 

La Salle, Sieur de, first visit to 
France, 47 

second trip to Northwest, 56 

third trip : visits Missis- 
sippi's mouth, 68 

Law, John, and " The Mississippi 
Bubble," 88, 277-284 

Leavenworth, Colonel, at Fort St. 
Anthony in 1819, 287 

Le Seuer, adventurer, 76-79 

Lewis and Clark at Saint Louis 
in 1803, 93 

expedition, 94-96 

expedition, value to American 

literature, 96 

" Libby's," at Sandy Lake, 169 

Liguest, Pierre Leclade, founder 
of Saint Louis, 290 

Livingston, Robert R., and the 
Louisiana Purchase, 90 

Long, Major, U. S. N., anC Bel- 
trami, quarrel of, 104 

Louisiana Purchase, the, 85 

its area, 91 

its cheapness, 92 

M 

" Maiden Rock," on Lake Pepin, 

and its legend, 176-177 
" Mardi Gras," in New Orleans, 

301 
Marquette's " Narrative," 50-56 
Memphis, history of the city, 294 

in the Civil War, 270, 272, 

296 



Index 



307 



Metoswa Rapids, description of 

the, 160 
Minneapolis, history of the city, 

286 
" Mississippi Bubble " and John 

Law, 277-284 
Mississippi River delta, 208 

discoveries at the source, 151 

in war, 237-276 

• Indian massacres, 237 

War of 1812-15, 242 

the Civil War, 252 

jetties at mouths of, 218 

levees, 210 

Narrative of a Voyage from 

Elk Lake to the Sea, 131 
philology of the word, 79 



Monroe, James, sent as special 

envoy to Napoleon, 90 
Morrison, William, visited Lac La 

Biche in 1802, 83 



N 



Napoleon I., and the Louisiana 

Province, 89 
Napoleon, the lost town of, 195 
Nauvoo, the sacred town of Morm- 

onism, 183-188 
New Orleans, capture of, by Far- 

ragut, 262 
French-Creole quarter, 199, 

300 



history of the city of, 297 

Newspaper, first, in upper Missis- 
sippi Valley, the Saint Louis 
Republic, 293 
Nicollet, Jean N., expedition to 
sources of Mississippi, 119-130 



Pemidji Lake, description of, 159 
Pike Rapids, dangerous to " run," 

170 
Pike, Zebulon M., U. S. A., ex- 



plorations on upper Mississippi, 
98 
■Indian council at St. An- 



thony Fall, 287 
" Pillagers," among the, at Turtle 

River, 162 
Pineda, Alonzo Alvarez de, his 

expedition, 7-8 
Pokegama Fall, 165 
Pokegama Lake, scene of famine, 

1850-51, 167 

R 

Radisson, Peter Esprit, his manu- 
scripts, 21-42 

Reservoirs on the upper Missis- 
sippi, 289 

S 

St. Anthony Fall, considered geo- 
logically, 173 

St. Cosme, Father, his " Narra- 
tive," 71-74 

Saint Louis, history of the city, 
290 

Jean N. Nicollet's comments, 

293 

Saint Paul, history of the city, 
286 

Schoolcraft, Henry R., with Cass 
expedition, 1820, 100 

expedition to Itasca Lake, 

106-118 

naming of Cass Lake, 100 

naming of Itasca Lake, 111 

Soto, Hernando de, expedition, 
13-15 

Spirit Island, story of the, 138- 
141 

Steamboat traffic on the Missis- 
sippi, 228 

race between the Lee and 

Natchez, 229 



Thompson, David, traveller and 
astronomer, 81 



3o8 



Index 



Thomson, Metellus, characterises 

Minnehaha Creek, 289 
Thundering Rapids, description 

of the, 167 
Timber-cruiser, the, his solitary 

life, 134-135 
Tonty, Henry de, the one-armed 

hero of the Mississippi, 57-62, 

72, 74 
Turtle River and Beltrami, 105 

U 

Upham, Warren, on Radisson 
manuscripts, 30, 31, 38, 42 

V 

Vaca, Nufiez Cabeza de, his " Re- 
lation," 10 

Varnhagen's, Count de, defence 
of Vespucius, 6 



Verendrye, M, de La, in the 
Northwest, 82 

Vespucius, Americus, his claims, 
5-6 

Vicksburg, siege of, by General 
Grant, 269 

Virginia, the first steamer to as- 
cend to Fort Snelling, 1823, 287 

Voudouism still practised on 
shores of Lake Pontchartrain, 
301 



W 



White Earth Mission, in Chip- 
pewa land, 133 

White Oak Point, a landmark, 
165 

Winnebagoshish Lake, descrip- 
tion of, 163 



Jl Selection from the 
Catalogue of 

G. P. PUTNAM'S SONS 



Complete Catalogues sent 
on application 



merican Waterways 



The Romance of the Colorado River 

The Story of its Discovery in 1 540, with em account of the Later 
ELxplorations, and with SpecieJ Reference to the Voyages of Powell 
through the Line of the Great Canyons. 

By Frederick S. Dellenbaugh 

Member of the United States Colorado River Expedition of 1871 and 1872 

435 pages, with 200 Illustrations, and Frontispiece in Color. $3.50 net 

" His scientific training, his long experience in this region, euid his eye 
for naturcil scenery enable him to make this account of the Colorado River 
most graphic euid interestmg. No other book equally good cjui be writ- 
ten for many years to come — not until our knowledge of the river is 
greatly enlarged." — The Boston Herald. 

" Mr. Dellenbaugh writes with enthusiasm and balamce about his 
chief, and of the Ccinyon with a fascination that make him disinclined to 
leave it, and brings him thirty years later to its description with undimin- 
ished interest. — New York Tribune. 



The Ohio River 

A COURSE OF EMPIRE 
By Archer B. Hulbert 

Associate Professor of American History, Marietta College, 
Author of "Historic Highways of America," etc. 

390 pages, with 100 Illustrations and a Map, $3.50 net 

An interesting description from a fresh point of view of the interna- 
tional struggle which ended with the English conquest of the Ohio Basin, 
and includes many interesting details of the pioneer movement on the Ohio. 
The most widely read students of the Ohio Valley will find a unique and 
unexpected interest in Mr. Hulbert's chapters dealing with the Ohio River 
in the Revolution, the rise of the cities of Pittsburg, Cincinnati, and Louis- 
ville, the fighting Virginians, the old-time methods of navigation, etc. 

"A wonderfully comprehensive and entirely fascinating book." — 
Chicago Inter-Ocean. 



American W aterways 



Narragansett Bay 

Its Historic and Romantic Associations and Picturesque Setting 

By Edgar Mayhew Bacon 

Author of " The Hudson River," " Chronicles of Tarrytown," etc. 

340 pages, with 50 Drawings by the Author, and with Numerous 
Photographs and a Map. S3. 50 net 

Impressed by the important and smgular peurt played by the settlers 
of Narragansett in the development of Americain ideas and ideals, and 
strongly attracted by the romcintic tales that are inwoven with the warp 
of history, as well as by the incomparable setting the great bay affords for 
such a subject, the author offers this result of his labor as a contribution 
to the story of great American Waterways, with the hope that his readers 
may be imbued with somewhat of his own enthusiasm. 

" An attractive description of the picturesque part of Rhode Island. 
Mr. Bacon dwells on the natural beauties, the legendary amd historical asso- 
ciations, rather than the present appeareuice of the shores." — A'^. Y. Sun. 



The Great Lakes 

Vessels That Plough Them, Their Owners, Theit Sailors, and Their Cargoes / 
together with A Brief History of Our Inland Seat 

By James Oliver Curwood 
244 pages, with 72 Illustrations and a Map. $3,50 net 

This profusely illustrated book, as entertaining as it is informing, has 
the twofold advantage of bemg written by a man who knows the Lakes 
and their shores as well as what has been written about them. The gen- 
ercJ reader will enjoy the romeuice attachbg to the past history of the 
Lakes and not less the romance of the present — the story of the great 
commercial fleets that plough our inland seas, created to transport the 
fruits of the earth and the metals that are dug from the bowels of the 
eavth. To the business man who has mterests in or about the Lakes, or 
to the prospective investor m Great Lakes enterprises, the book will be 
found suggestive. Comparatively little has been written of these fresh- 
water seas, amd many of his readers will be ameized at the wonderful 
story which this volume tells. 



jimerican Waterways 



The St. Lawrence River 

Historical — Legendary — Picturesque 
By George Waldo Browne 

Author of " Japan — the Place and the People," " Paradise of the Pacific," etc. 

385 pages, with 100 Illustrations and a Map, $3.50 net 

While the St. Lawrence River has been the scene of many important 
events connected with the discovery and development of a large portion 
of North America, no attempt has heretofore been made to collect and 
embody in one volume a complete and comprehensive nanative of this great 
waterway. This is not denying that considerable has been wnritten relating 
to it, but the various offerings have been scattered through meiny volumes, 
and most of these have become inaccessible to the general reader. 

This work presents in a consecutive narrative the most important 
historic incidents connected wath the river, combined with descriptions of 
some of its most picturesque scenery and delightful excursions into its 
legendary lore. In selecting the hundred illustrations ccire has been taken 
to give as wide a scope as possible to the views belonging to the river. 



The Niagara River 

By Archer Butler Hulbert 

Professor of American History, Marietta College; author of " The Ohio River," 

" Historic Highways of America," etc. 

350 pages, with 70 Illustrations and Maps, $3,50 net 

Professor Hulbert tells all that is best worth recordmg of the history 
of the river which gives the book its title, and of its commercial present 
zind its great commercial future. An immense amount of carefully ordered 
information is here brought together into a most entertaming and informing 
book. No mention of this volume can be quite adequate that fails to take 
into account the extraordinary chapter which is given to chronicling the 
mad achievements of that company of dare-devil bipeds of both sexes who 
for decades have been sweeping over the Falls in baurrels auid other 
receptacles, or who have gone dancing their dizzy way on ropes or wires 
stretched from shore to shore above the boilmg, leapmg water beneath. 



Ji 



merican IVaterWays 



The Hudson River 

FROM OCEAN TO SOURCE 

Historical — Legendary — Picturesque 

By Edgar Mayhew Bacon 

Author of " Chronicles of Tarrytown," " Narragansett Bay," etc. 

600 Pages, with 100 Illustrations, including a Sectional Map of the Hudson 
River, $3.50 net 

" The value of this handsome quarto does not depend solely on 
the attractiveness with which Mr. Bacon has invested the whole subject, 
it is a kind of footnote to the more conventioneJ histories, because it 
throws light upon the life and habits of the earliest settlers. It is a study 
of Dutch civilization in the New World, severe enough in intentions to 
be accurate, but easy enough in temper to make a great deed of humor, 
and to comment upon those characteristic customs eind habits which, while 
they escape the attention of the formaJ historian, eure full of significance." 

Outlook, 



The Connecticut River 

AND THE 

Valley of the Connecticut 

THREE HUNDRED AND FIFTY MILES FROM MOUNTAIN TO SEA 

Historical and Descriptive 

By Edwin Munroe Bacon 

Author of " Walks and Rides in the Country Round About Boston," etc. 

500 Pages, with 100 Illustrations and a Map. $3,50 net 

From ocean to source every mile of the Connecticut is crowded with 
reminders of the ecirly explorers, of the Indian wars, of the struggle of the 
Colonies, and of the quaint, peaceful village existence of the early days of 
the Republic. Beginning with the Dutch discovery, Mr. Bacon traces 
the interesting movements emd events which are eissociated with this chief 
river of New England. 



American Waterways 



The Columbia River 

Its History — Its Myths — Its Scenery — Its Commerce 
By Willieun Denison Lyman 

Professor of History in Whitman CoUege, Walla Walla, Washington 

430 pages, with 80 Illustrations and a Map, S3.50 net 

This is the first effort to present a book distinctively on the Columbia 
River. It is the intention of the author to give some special prominence 
to Nelson and the magnificent lake district by which it is surrounded. 
As the joint possession of the United States and British Columbia, and 
as the grandest scenic river of the continent, the Columbia is worthy of 
special attention. 

American Inland Waterways 

Their Relation to Railway Transportation and to the National 
Welfare f Their Creation, Restoration, and Maintenance 

By Herbert Quick 
262 pages, with 80 Illustrations and a Map, $3.50 net 

A study of our water highways, and a comparison of them with the 
like chaimels of trade and travel abroad. This book covers the question 
of waterways in well-nigh all their aspects — their importance to the na- 
tion's welfare, their relations to the railways, their creation, restoration, and 
maintenance. The bearing of forestry upon the subject in question is 
considered, and there is a suggested plan for a continental system of 
waterways. There are a large number of illustrations of the first interest. 

The Mississippi River 

And Its Wonderful Valley Twenty^five Hundred and Fifty 

Miles from Source to Sea 

By Julius Chambers 

Fellow of the Royal Geographical Society 

In Preparation 

Each will be fully illustrated and will probably be published at $3.50 net 

1. — Lake George and Lake Champlain 

By W. Max Reid 

Author of " The Mohawk Valley," " The Story of Old Fort Johnson," etc. 

2. — The Story of the Chesapeake 

By Ruthella Mory Bibbins 



^0: 



20 



